| 释义 |
beseem, v.|bɪˈsiːm|
Also 3–6 bi-, by-. For forms see seem v.
[f. be- 2 + seem v.]
†1. intr. To seem, appear, look. (Almost always in 3rd pers.) Obs.
a1225Ancr. R. 148 Moiseses hond..bisemede oðe spitelvuel. 1330R. Brunne Chron. Prol. 152 He telles..Alle þer lymmes how þai besemed. 1470–85Malory (1816) I. 191 Sir, thou beseemest well. 1586Webbe Eng. Poetrie (Arb.) 82 She sittes..in a goodly scarlett brauely beseeming. 1779Mason Eng. Gard. xiv. (R.) His manly form, His virtues..beseem'd no sentiment to wake Warmer than gratitude.
b. impers. with dat. obj. or to.
c1400Destr. Troy vii. 2886 Paris was pure faire..full stithe hym besemyt. 1470–85Malory Arthur (1816) I. 361 Him beseemeth well of person, and of countenance, that he shall prove a good man. 1598Sylvester Du Bartas i. i. (1641) 2/1 To deep Wisdome and Omnipotence, Nought worse beseems, then sloth and negligence.
2. To suit in appearance; to become, befit, be in accordance with the appearance or character of. With dat. obj. (rarely to).
a. orig. with well, ill, or other qualification: lit. To appear or look well, etc., for a person to wear, to have, to do, etc.
a1225Juliana 55 Wel bisemeð þe..to beo streon of a swuch strunde. c1325E.E. Allit. P. A. 309 A poynt of sorquydryȝe þat vche god mon may euel byseme. 1393Gower I. 110 As though it shulde him well beseme That he all other men can deme. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. vi. vi. (1495) 193 Semely clothynge bysemyth to them well that ben chaste damoysels. 1590Marlowe Edw. II, i. i. ad fin., A prison may best beseem his holiness. a1674Clarendon Hist. Reb. II. vi. 137 A duty well beseeming the Preachers of the Gospel. 1843Lytton Last Bar. ii. 41 It would ill beseem you, so young and so comely, to go further.
b. Hence, without qualification, in the sense of ‘well beseem.’
1388Wyclif Prov. xvii. 7 Wordis wel set togidere bisemen not a fool. a1520Myrr. Our Ladye 126 Euerlastynge holynesse bysemyth lorde thy howse. 1593Shakes. Lucr. 277 Sad pause and deep regard beseem the sage. 1639Fuller Holy War iii. xi. (1840) 134 Being more prodigal of his person than beseemed a general. 1729T. Cooke Tales 45 Her Mind beseem'd her Angel's Face. 1837Hawthorne Twice-told T. (1851) II. i. 12, I have already laughed more than beseems my cloth. 1884Browning Ferishtah (ed. 3) 61 Man acts as man must; God, as God beseems.
3. absol. To be seemly, to be becoming or fitting, to be meet: orig. with qualification as in 2.
c1340Cursor M. 8734 (Trin.) Say me what wol best biseme. 1382Wyclif Rom. i. 28 Tho thingis that acoorden not, or bysemen not. 1388― Hebr. vii. 26 It bisemyde that sich a man were a bischop to us. c1449Pecock Repr. 552 The receyuers wolden expende thilk good..not other wise than it bisemed. 1596Spenser F.Q. i. viii. 32 His reverend haires..The knight much honord, as beseemed well. 1671Milton P.R. ii. 331 To treat thee as beseems. 1871Palgrave Lyr. Poems 44 Silence beseemeth most. |