bethink

Etymology

From Middle English bethenken, bithenchen (“to think about, consider”) from Old English beþenċan, biþenċan (“to think upon, remind, consider, remember”), from Proto-Germanic *biþankijaną, equivalent to be- +‎ think. Akin to Old High German pidenchan (“to bethink”) (German bedenken (“to bethink”)), Gothic 𐌱𐌹𐌸𐌰𐌲𐌺𐌾𐌰𐌽 (biþagkjan), Dutch bedenken (“to bethink”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɪˈθɪŋk/

Verb

bethink (third-person singular simple present bethinks, present participle bethinking, simple past and past participle bethought)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To think about, to recollect.
2. (reflexive) To think of (something or somebody) or that (followed by clause); to remind oneself, to consider, to reflect upon.
   • 1924, EM Forster, A Passage to India, Penguin 2005, p. 11:

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

   • 2010, Christopher Hitchens, Hitch-22, Atlantic 2011, p. 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.

3. To meditate, ponder; to consider.
4. To determine, resolve.

Quotations

• For quotations of use of this term, see Citations:bethink.

References

• bethink in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913