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bespeak

Pronunciation: /bɪˈspiːk/

The English word “bespeak” has 8 meanings listed here.

verb

  1. To speak about; tell of; relate; discuss.
  2. To speak for beforehand; engage in advance; make arrangements for; order, commission, reserve or arrange for something to be made in advance.
  3. To stipulate, solicit, ask for, or request, as in a favour.
  4. To forbode; foretell.
  5. To speak to; address.
  6. To betoken; show; indicate; depict; foretell; suggest; allude to.
  7. To speak up or out; exclaim; speak.

noun

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

Etymology

From Middle English bespeken, bispeken, from Old English *bespecan, besprecan (“to speak about, speak against, accuse of, claim at law, complain”), from Proto-West Germanic *bisprekan (“to discuss, blame”), from Proto-Germanic *bisprekaną (“to speak about, discuss, blame”), equivalent to be- + speak. Cognate with Scots bespeke (“to beseech, speak or negotiate with”), Saterland Frisian bispreke…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.