bemean

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɪˈmiːn/

  Rhymes: -iːn

Etymology 1

From Middle English bemenen, equivalent to be- +‎ mean (“to signify”). Compare Middle High German bemeinen (“to mean”).

Alternative forms

• bemene

Verb

bemean (third-person singular simple present bemeans, present participle bemeaning, simple past and past participle bemeant)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To mean; signify; inform.

Etymology 2

From be- +‎ mean (“base, lowly”), from Middle English mene, aphetic variation of Middle English imene (“average, lowly, mean”), from Old English ġemǣne (“mean, common, average”). More at mean.

Verb

bemean (third-person singular simple present bemeans, present participle bemeaning, simple past and past participle bemeaned)

1. To make mean or base, demean.
   • 1973, Alfred Bertram Guthrie, Wild Pitch‎^[1] (Fiction), G. K. Hall, →ISBN, page 85:

     I fished carefully, used wet flies and dry, all that I had in my book, and even bemeaned myself by baiting a plain hook with a grasshopper.

Usage notes

• Usually used reflexively, as in "to bemean oneself".

Synonyms

• demean

Anagrams

• Beeman, Mebane, bename