bespeak

Meanings

1. To speak about; tell of; relate; discuss.
2. To speak for beforehand; engage in advance; make arrangements for; order or reserve in advance.
3. To stipulate, solicit, ask for, or request, as in a favour.
4. To forbode; foretell.
5. To speak to; address.
6. To betoken; show; indicate; depict; foretell; suggest; allude to.
7. To speak up or out; exclaim; speak.

1. A request for a specific performance; a benefit performance, by a patron.

Etymology

From Middle English bespeken, bispeken, from Old English *bespecan, besprecan (“to speak about, speak against, accuse of, claim at law, complain”), from Proto-West Germanic *bisprekan (“to discuss, blame”), from Proto-Germanic *bisprekaną (“to speak about, discuss, blame”), equivalent to be- + speak. Cognate with Scots bespeke (“to beseech, speak or negotiate with”), Saterland Frisian bispreke (“to discuss”), West Frisian besprekke (“to discuss”), Dutch bespreken (“to discuss, review, debate”), German besprechen (“to discuss, review, talk about”).