bedrive

English

Etymology

From Middle English bidriven, from Old English bedrīfan (“to drive; beat; strike; assail; follow up; pursue; surround; cover”), from Proto-West Germanic *bidrīban, equivalent to be- +‎ drive. Cognate with Dutch bedrijven (“to commit, perpetrate”), German betreiben (“to operate, conduct, pursue”), Swedish bedriva (“to manage, carry on, prosecute”).

Verb

bedrive (third-person singular simple present bedrives, present participle bedriving, simple past bedrove, past participle bedriven)

1. (transitive) To drive or toss about; drive out, off, back, or away; defeat.
   • 1852, Alfred (King of England), The whole works of King Alfred the Great:

     But when every human help ceased, that they might trust more to divine help, they then first began to fight against their foes, who for many years before harried and plundered on them, and they then made a great slaughter among them, and bedrove them home, and had a victory.

2. (transitive) To effect; do; commit; perpetrate; experience.
   • 1889, Henry Morley, Early prose romances:

     And every man that standeth here would well bethink him what he hath done and bedriven in his days, he should the better have patience and pity on Reynart.

Related terms

• bedrift

Danish

Etymology

From be- (“on”) +‎ drive (“to drive”), calque of Middle Low German bedrîven and German betreiben. Compare also Swedish bedriva, English bedrive, Dutch bedrijven.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bedriːvə/, ,

Verb

bedrive (past tense bedrev, past participle bedrevet, attributive common bedreven, attributive definite and plural bedrevne)

1. (transitive) to do, engage in (e.g. research, politics)
2. (transitive) to commit (an immoral act)

Conjugation

Derived terms

• bedrift

References

• “bedrive” in Den Danske Ordbog