befold

English

Etymology

From Middle English bifealden, bevealden, from Old English befealdan (“to fold, roll up, envelop, clasp, surround, involve, cover, attach”), equivalent to be- (“around, about”) +‎ fold. Cognate with Old High German bifaltan (“to envelop”).

Verb

befold (third-person singular simple present befolds, present participle befolding, simple past befolded or (obsolete) befeld, past participle befolded or (obsolete) befolden)

1. (transitive) To fold up; fold around; wrap up; envelop.
   • 1974, Harrisene Jackson, There's nothing I own that I want:

     And when I rant and rave and raise hell about the power structure and about slaverytood, and nigratood, and nigraism, and everything else that befolds me being a black woman every day, I still love people.

   • 2002, Simon Monbaron, How to Develop Peace in the World:

     So, brothers and sisters that is God's law and God's punishment that befolds a person who during their life does not acknowledge or feels the greatness of God and God's reality.

   • 2008, George D. Shorten, The Low Bed of a Faller:

     Abo sits befolded up Shadeside of a namma hole [...]