English Explanatory Dictionary

betide

English dictionary entry

Meanings

verb
  1. Often used in a prediction (chiefly in woe betide) or a wish: to happen to (someone or something); to befall.
  2. Chiefly in the third person: to happen; to take place; to bechance, to befall.

Pronunciation

/bɪˈtaɪd/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-betide.wav /bəˈtaɪd/

Word forms

betide betides betiding betid betided no-table-tags glossary betidest betidedst betideth

Etymology

From Middle English bityden [and other forms]; from bi- (prefix forming verbs, usually with a completive, figurative, or intensive sense) + tyden (“to come about, happen, occur; to befall, become of, happen to (someone); to be the fate of (someone); to await (someone); to fare, get along”); tyden is derived from Old English tīdan (“to befall, betide, happen”), related to tīd (“time; season; hour”) (both ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *deh₂- (“to divide, share”) or its extended form *deh₂-y-, whence *dh₂ítis (“time”)) + -an (suffix forming the infinitive of most verbs). The English word is analysable as be- + tide (“(obsolete) to happen, occur”).

Synonyms

betime come to pass occur tide transpire bechance befall belimp betide chance come about crop up evene eventuate go on hap happen hold pass take place

Derived words

woe betide
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