begem

English

Etymology

be- + gem

Verb

begem (third-person singular simple present begems, present participle begemming, simple past and past participle begemmed)

  1. To adorn (as if) with gems.
    • 1748, Laetitia Pilkington, “Queen Mab to Pollio” in Memoirs, Dublin, p. 151,
      Our Grove we illuminate, glorious to see,
      With glittering Glow-worms begemming each Tree;
    • 1821, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Adonaïs, stanza 11,
      One [] threw
      The wreath upon him, like an anadem,
      Which frozen tears instead of pearls begem;
    • 1929, C. K. Scott Moncrieff (translator), The Captive by Marcel Proust, New York: Modern Library, Part I, Chapter 1, p. 3,
      Time was, when a stage manager would spend hundreds of thousands of francs to begem with real emeralds the throne upon which a great actress would play the part of an empress.
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