Some 16th-century Italian clergymen tried to ban coffee because they believed it to be “satanic.” However, Pope Clement VII loved coffee so much that he lifted the ban and had coffee baptized in 1600.
BESPEAKING
Verb
bespeaking
present participle of bespeak
Source: Wiktionary
BESPEAK
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
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Word of the Day
12 January 2025
HABIT
(noun) (psychology) an automatic pattern of behavior in reaction to a specific situation; may be inherited or acquired through frequent repetition; “owls have nocturnal habits”; “she had a habit twirling the ends of her hair”; “long use had hardened him to it”
Coffee Trivia
