In the 16th century, Turkish women could divorce their husbands if the man failed to keep his family’s pot filled with coffee.
behote
Obsolete form of behight.
Source: Wiktionary
Be*hight", v. t. [imp. Behight; p. p. Behight, Behoten.] Etym: [OE. bihaten, AS. behatan to vow, promise; pref. be- + hatan to call, command. See Hight, v.] [Obs. in all its senses.]
1. To promise; to vow. Behight by vow unto the chaste Minerve. Surrey.
2. To give in trust; to commit; to intrust. The keys are to thy hand behight. Spenser.
3. To adjudge; to assign by authority. The second was to Triamond behight. Spenser.
4. To mean, or intend. More than heart behighteth. Mir. for Mag.
5. To consider or esteem to be; to declare to be. All the lookers-on him dead behight. Spenser.
6. To call; to name; to address. Whom . . . he knew and thus behight. Spenser.
7. To command; to order. He behight those gates to be unbarred. Spenser.
Be*hight", n.
Definition: A vow; a promise. [Obs.] Surrey.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
2 April 2025
(adjective) secret or hidden; not openly practiced or engaged in or shown or avowed; “covert actions by the CIA”; “covert funding for the rebels”
In the 16th century, Turkish women could divorce their husbands if the man failed to keep his family’s pot filled with coffee.