BESPOKEN

bespoken, betrothed

(adjective) pledged to be married; “the engaged couple”

bespoke, bespoken, made-to-order, tailored, tailor-made

(adjective) (of clothing) custom-made

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


Verb

bespoken

past participle of bespeak

Adjective

bespoken (not comparable)

(obsolete) betrothed or engaged to be married (compare with: spoken for)

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

8 February 2025

STATE

(noun) the group of people comprising the government of a sovereign state; “the state has lowered its income tax”


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Coffee Trivia

The world’s most expensive coffee costs more than US$700 per kilogram. Asian palm civet – a cat-like creature in Indonesia, eats fruits, including select coffee cherries. It excretes partially digested seeds that produce a smooth, less acidic brew of coffee called kopi luwak.

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