BESPEAK

request, ask for, bespeak, call for, quest

(verb) express the need or desire for; “She requested an extra bed in her room”; “She called for room service”; “when you call, always ask for Mary”

bespeak, betoken, indicate, point, signal

(verb) be a signal for or a symptom of; “These symptoms indicate a serious illness”; “Her behavior points to a severe neurosis”; “The economic indicators signal that the euro is undervalued”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Verb

bespeak (third-person singular simple present bespeaks, present participle bespeaking, simple past (archaic) bespake or bespoke, past participle (archaic) bespoke or bespoken)

(transitive) To speak about; tell of; relate; discuss.

(transitive) To speak for beforehand; engage in advance; make arrangements for; order or reserve in advance.

(transitive) To stipulate, solicit, ask for, or request, as in a favour.

(transitive, archaic) To forbode; foretell.

(transitive, archaic, poetic) To speak to; address.

(transitive) To betoken; show; indicate; foretell; suggest; allude to.

(intransitive) To speak up or out; exclaim; speak.

Noun

bespeak (plural bespeaks)

A request for a specific performance; a benefit performance, by a patron.

Anagrams

• bespake

Source: Wiktionary

Be*speak", v. t. [imp. Bespoke, Bespake (Archaic); p. p. Bespoke, Bespoken (; p. pr. & vb. n. Bespeaking.] Etym: [OE. bispeken, AS. besprecan, to speak to, accuse; pref. be- + sprecan to speak. See Speak.]

1. To speak or arrange for beforehand; to order or engage against a future time; as, to bespeak goods, a right, or a favor. Concluding, naturally, that to gratify his avarice was to bespeak his favor. Sir W. Scott.

2. To show beforehand; to foretell; to indicate. [They] bespoke dangers . . . in order to scare the allies. Swift.

3. To betoken; to show; to indicate by external marks or appearances. When the abbot of St. Martin was born, he had so little the figure of a man that it bespoke him rather a monster. Locke.

4. To speak to; to address. [Poetic] He thus the queen bespoke. Dryden.

Be*speak", v. i.

Definition: To speak. [Obs.] Milton.

Be*speak", n.

Definition: A bespeaking. Among actors, a benefit (when a particular play is bespoken.) "The night of her bespeak." Dickens.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition