Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To cause (oneself) to reflect on or consider.
- intransitive verb To remind (oneself); remember.
- intransitive verb To meditate; ponder.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To think; imagine.
- To think about; reflect upon; consider.
- Reflexively: To call to mind; take into consideration; remind one's self: with of (formerly also
on or upon) before the name of the object of thought. - To reflect; deliberate; commune with one's self.
- To deliberate; consider.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To call to mind; to recall or bring to recollection, reflection, or consideration; to think; to consider; -- generally followed by a reflexive pronoun, often with
of orthat before the subject of thought. - intransitive verb To think; to recollect; to consider.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb obsolete, transitive To
think about, torecollect . - verb pronominal To
think of (something or somebody) orthat (+ clause); toremind oneself, toconsider , to reflect upon. - verb to
meditate ,ponder ; toconsider - verb to
determine ,resolve
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb cause oneself to consider something
- verb consider or ponder something carefully
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
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Examples
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"But you," I demanded hotly; "you with your orgies of sound and sense, with your mad cities and madder frolics — bethink you that you win?"
WHEN GOD LAUGHS 2010
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“An excellent motion, my ingenious friend,” said Lascaris, which was the name of the other citizen; “but bethink you, shall we not be in danger from the missiles with which the audacious Latins will not fail to return the Greek fire, if, according to your conjecture, it shall be poured upon them by the Imperial squadron?”
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And thou art he, too, as I bethink me, to whom the Christian princes sent this very criminal to open a communication with the Soldan, even while I, who ought to have been first consulted, lay on my sick-bed?
The Talisman 2008
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“Good Nectabanus, bethink thyself,” said the knight.
The Talisman 2008
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I am not so void of sense; bethink thee, I shall go through this as well, when I lead the maiden from the chamber to the sound of the marriage-hymn; wherefore I chide thee not; but custom will combine with time to make the smart grow less.
Iphigenia at Aulis 2008
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“Keep thy voice low and submissive, I have told thee a score of times,” said the leader, “and lower thine axe, which, as I bethink me, thou hadst better leave in the outer apartment.”
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I am not so void of sense; bethink thee, I shall go through this as well, when I lead the maiden from the chamber to the sound of the marriage-hymn; wherefore I chide thee not; but custom will combine with time to make the smart grow less.
Iphigenia at Aulis 2008
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Now go, my child, and tarry not; and soon as thou hast made the offering at the tomb, bethink thee of thy return.
Orestes 2008
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Consider thyself, Hereward, and bethink thee what thou art.
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“Cousin,” said the Lady Hameline, “I believe with you that the youth means us well — but bethink you — we transgress the instructions of King Louis, so positively iterated.”
Quentin Durward 2008
Telofy commented on the word bethink
“Beset, as you should know, by woe and eager for a situation of venerational tranquility, I bethought me of this manteion, the new calde’s own, as a place to which I might retire, pray and contemplate the inscrutable ways of the gods.” (emphasis in the original)
—Patera Incus in The Book of the Long Sun by Gene Wolfe
September 18, 2009