Etymology

From Middle EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Middle English#BETHINKCategory:English terms derived from Middle English#BETHINK bethenken, bithenchen (“to think about, consider”) from Old EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Old English#BETHINKCategory:English terms derived from Old English#BETHINK beþenċan, biþenċan (“to think upon, remind, consider, remember”), from Proto-GermanicCategory:English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic#BETHINKCategory:English terms derived from Proto-Germanic#BETHINK *biþankijaną; equivalent to be- +‎ thinkCategory:English terms prefixed with be-#THINK. Akin to Old High German pidenchan (German bedenken), Gothic 𐌱𐌹𐌸𐌰𐌲𐌺𐌾𐌰𐌽 (biþagkjan), Dutch bedenken.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɪˈθɪŋk/Category:English 2-syllable words#BETHINKCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#BETHINK

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

  Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#BETHINK
• Rhymes: -ɪŋkCategory:Rhymes:English/ɪŋk#BETHINKCategory:Rhymes:English/ɪŋk/2 syllables#BETHINK

Verb

bethink (third-person singular simple present bethinks, present participle bethinking, simple past and past participle bethought)Category:English lemmas#BETHINKCategory:English verbs#BETHINKCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#BETHINKCategory:Pages with entries#BETHINKCategory:Pages with 1 entry#BETHINK

1. (obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#BETHINK, transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#BETHINK) To think about, to recollect.
2. (reflexiveCategory:English reflexive verbs#BETHINK) To think of (something or somebody) or that (followed by clause); to remind oneself, to consider, to reflect upon.
   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii], page 165:

     Baſ[ſanio]. Be aſſured you may. / Iew [i.e., Shylock]. I will be aſſured I may: and that I may be aſſured, I will bethinke mee, may I ſpeake with Anthonio?

     Category:English terms with quotations#BETHINK

   • 1634 September 1 (date delivered; Gregorian calendar), Robert Sanderson, “[Ad Clerum.] The Fourth Sermon. At a Metropolitical Visitation at Grantham, Lincoln, 22 August 1634.”, in XXXIV Sermons. […], 5th edition, London: […] [A. Clark] for A. Seil, and are to be sold by G. Sawbridge, […], published 1671, →OCLC, paragraph 15, page 65:

     Mens daily occaſions for themſelves or friends, and the neceſities of common life, require the doing of a thouſand things vvithin the compaſs of a fevv dayes, for vvhich it vvould puzzle the beſt Textman that liveth; readily to bethink himself of a ſentence in the Bible, clear enough to ſatisfie a ſcrupulous conſcience of the lavvfulneſs and expediency of vvhat he is about to do; […]

     Category:English terms with quotations#BETHINK

   • 1815 [1802], William Wordsworth, Resolution and Independence:

     I heard the Sky-lark singing in the sky; / And I bethought me of the playful Hare:

     Category:English terms with quotations#BETHINK

   • 1832, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Heath's Book of Beauty, 1833, Theresa, page 164:

     Though eager to spring down the path and meet him, yet, amid all the forgetfulness of joy, she had bethought her of her aged parent, and returned that she too might share the happiness of their meeting.

     Category:English terms with quotations#BETHINK

   • 1878, Henry James, An International Episode‎:

     It was natural that in the hour of tribulation Lord Lambeth and Mr. Percy Beaumont should have bethought themselves of a gentleman whose attractions had been thus vividly depicted; […]

     Category:English terms with quotations#BETHINK

   • 1885–1888, Richard F[rancis] Burton, transl. and editor, “Night 566”, in A Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights’ Entertainments, now Entituled The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night […], Shammar edition, volume (please specify the volume), [London]: […] Burton Club […], →OCLC:

     One day, among the days, he bethought him of this and fell lamenting for that the most part of his existence was past and he had not been vouchsafed a son, to inherit the kingdom after him, even as he had inherited it from his fathers and forebears; by reason whereof there betided him sore cark and care and chagrin exceeding.

     Category:English terms with quotations#BETHINK

   • 1924 June 4, E[dward] M[organ] Forster, A Passage to India, London: Edward Arnold & Co., →OCLC:

     Having censured the circumcision, she bethought her of kindred topics, and asked Aziz when he was going to be married.

     Category:English terms with quotations#BETHINK

   • 2010, Christopher Hitchens, Hitch-22, Atlantic, published 2011, page 49:

     However, and just before I was due to take the entrance exam at the age of thirteen, my mother bethought herself that it might be worth taking a look at the place where I was due to be conscripted for the next five formative years.

     Category:English terms with quotations#BETHINK

   • 2013, Harry Turtledove & L. Sprague deCamp, Down in the Bottomlands: And Other Places, →ISBN:

     He showed the two men from Vinland how to fit the rubber masks over their noses. “Bethink you to outbreathe through your mouths, and you’ll be fine.”

     Category:English terms with quotations#BETHINK

3. (intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#BETHINK) To meditate, ponder; to consider.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:ponder

4. To determine, resolve.

Further reading

• “bethink”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.