Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word
bewray. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
bewray, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
bewray in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
bewray you have here. The definition of the word
bewray will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
bewray, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Middle English bewraien, bewreyen, biwreyen, from Old English *bewrēġan, from Proto-Germanic *biwrōgijaną (“to speak about; tell on; inform of”), equivalent to be- + wray. Cognate with Old Frisian biwrōgja (“to disclose, reveal”), Dutch bewroegen (“to blame; accuse”), Middle Low German bewrȫgen (“to accuse; complain about; punish”), Old High German biruogen (“to disclose, reveal”), Modern German berügen (“to defraud”).
Verb
bewray (third-person singular simple present bewrays, present participle bewraying, simple past and past participle bewrayed)
- (transitive, archaic) To accuse; malign; speak evil of.
- (transitive) To reveal, divulge, or make (something) known; disclose.
2013, Miguel Asin Palacios, Islam and the Divine Comedy, page 75:A comparison with the Divine Comedy of all these versions combined bewrays many points of resemblance, and even of absolute coincidence, in the general architecture and ethical structure of hell and paradise; in the description of the tortures and rewards; […]
- (transitive) To reveal or disclose and show the presence or true character of, especially if unintentionally or incidentally, or else if perfidiously, prejudicially, or to one's discredit.
1567, Arthur Golding, transl., The XV. Bookes of P. Ouidius Naso, entytuled Metamorphosis, Book 2, lines 539-40, p. 21:He tooke hir fast betwéene his armes, and not without his shame,
Bewrayed plainly what he was and wherefore that he came.
1580, John Lyly, Euphues and his England, London: Gabriell Cawood, page 100:But to put you out of doubt that my wits were not all this while a wol-gathering, I was debating with my selfe whether in loue, it wer better to be constant, bewraying all the counsayles, or secret, being readye euery houre to flinch:
1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto IIII”, in The Faerie Queene. , London: [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 61, page 461:So forth he vvent, / VVith heauy looke and lumpiſh pace, that plaine / In him bevvraid great grudge and maltalent; / His ſteed eke ſeemd t'apply his ſteps to his intent.
1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, part III:Why, Warwick, canst thou speak against thy Liege, Whom thou obeyedst thirty and six years, And not bewray thy treason with a blush?
c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :Should we be silent and not speak, our raiment
And state of bodies would bewray what life
We have led since thy exile.
1841, Lydia Sigourney, Pocahontas and Other Poems (New York edition), Native Scenery, page 50:And the lily gleam white, where the lakelets flow,
And the trailing arbutus shroud its grace,
Till fragrance bewrayed its hiding-place,
1905 August 22, The Times, page 6, col. A:His very speeches bewray the man – intensely human, frank and single-hearted
- (transitive) To expose or rat out (someone).
- 1846, Introduction to Letter 40 in Henry Ellis (editor), Original Letters, Illustrative of English History, Third Series, Volume I, London: Richard Bentley, p. 100,
- While this busy search was diligently applied and put in execution, Humphrey Banaster (were it more for fear of loss of life and goods, or attracted and provoked by the avaricious desire of the thousand pounds) he bewrayed his guest and master to John Mitton, then Sheriff of Shropshire,
1890 June 16, The Times, page 8, col. A:I fear that if I was to attempt to detain you at length my speech would bewray me, and you would discover I was not that master of professional allusions which you might expect me to be.
1892, John Greenleaf Whittier, “The Pennsylvania Pilgrim”, in The Poetical Works of John Greenleaf Whittier , volumes I (Narrative and Legendary Poems), Boston, Mass., New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin and Company , →OCLC, page 328:One Scripture rule, at least, was unforgot; / He hid the outcast, and bewrayed him not; […]
- (transitive, obsolete) To expose to harm.
- (transitive, obsolete) To expose (a deception).
1581, John Lyly, Campaspe: Played Beefore the Queenes Maiestie on Twelfe Day at Night:They place affection by times, by pollicy, by appoyntment, if they frowne, who dares call them vnconstant, if bewray secrets, who will tearme them vntrue, if fall to other loues, who trembles not, if he call them vnfaithfull.
1731, The Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs, the Sons of Jacob, page 74:For I was sore afraid of my Brothers, because they had all conspired together to kill him with the Sword that should bewray that Secret.
1927, Plutarch (Philemon Holland), Plutarch's Moralia - Part 1, →ISBN, page 244:For to discover this matter the better, he saith consequently: That the nature of virtuous men and those who have noble bringing up, is directly opposite unto that of long-tongued persons; and joining the reasons by which a man ought not to bewray his secret, together with those evils and inconveniences which curiosity and much babble do bring, and confirming all by fine similitudes and notable examples: ....
Usage notes
This word is often glossed as being a synonym of "betray", but this is only valid for the senses of "betray" that involve revealing information.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
to expose a person, rat someone out
Etymology 2
Variant of beray.
Verb
bewray (third-person singular simple present bewrays, present participle bewraying, simple past and past participle bewrayed)
- (obsolete) To soil or befoul; to beray.
- The template Template:RQ:Pope Dunciad does not use the parameter(s):
url=http://name.umdl.umich.edu/004809148.0001.000
Please see Module:checkparams for help with this warning.
1785, William Cowper, “Tirocinium: Or, A Review of Schools”, in The Task, a Poem, , London: J Johnson; , →OCLC, page 324:Like caterpillars dangling under trees
By slender threads, and swinging in the breeze,
Which filthily bewray and sore disgrace
The boughs in which are bred th’ unseemly race […]
Anagrams