bethatch

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English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English bithecchen, from Old English beþeċċan (to cover; protect; cover over; conceal), from Proto-West Germanic *biþakkjan, equivalent to be- +‎ thatch. Cognate with Dutch bedekken (to cover), German bedecken (to cover). More at its doublet bedeck. Alteration in vowel after Middle English perhaps due to thatch.

Verb

bethatch (third-person singular simple present bethatches, present participle bethatching, simple past and past participle bethatched) (now uncommon)

  1. (transitive) To cover with thatch; to thatch.
    • 1865, Richard Francis Burton (sir.), Stone talk:
      Part it behind, like terrier's back, Bethatch the front like wheaten stack, []
  2. (transitive, by extension, humorous, nonce word) To cover with hair.
    • 1969, Henry Robinson Luce, Gordon Parks, Life:
      Both are coolly intense, well bethatched, bell-bottomed and bespectacled.
    • 1996, Kerry Segrave, Baldness: a social history:
      Baldies did not like their condition: "Witness their frantic efforts to keep among the ranks of the bethatched. [] "