bespeak
/bɪˈspiːk/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 1.75 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To speak for beforehand; engage in advance; make arrangements for; order, commission, reserve or arrange for something to be made in advance.
Dated; Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "[They] bespoke dangers […] in order to scare the allies."
- "'[…] I am come here to bespeak Fanny a seal […]'"
- "concluding, naturally, that to gratify his avarice was to bespeak his favour"
- "I walked on into the village, with the desertion of this house upon my mind, and I found the landlord of the little inn, sanding his door-step. I bespoke breakfast, and broached the subject of the house."
- "to bespeak a calm hearing"
- "I bespeak your patience in advance."
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”).