Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To bestow improperly; err in bestowing.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To bestow improperly.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive To bestow improperly.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

mis- +‎ bestow

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Examples

  • We mistake appearances for realities and misbestow our sympathy.

    The Complete Works of Brann the Iconoclast, Volume 10 1905

  • I showed that part of your last letter which concerned my aunt Dall to herself, because I knew it would please her, and so it did; and she bids me tell you that she values your good-will and esteem extremely, and should do still more if you did not _misbestow so much of them on me_.

    Records of a Girlhood Fanny Kemble 1851

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