<B>beset, </B>transitive verb, <B>-set,</B> <B>-setting.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1a. </B>to attack from all sides; attack. <BR> <I>Ex. We were beset by mosquitoes in the swamp.</I> (SYN) harass, besiege. <DD><B> b. </B>to surround; hem in. <BR> <I>Ex. beset by the crowd. (Figurative.) In the darkness he was so beset by fear he was unable to move.</I> (SYN) enclose, encompass. <DD><B> 2. </B>to set with decorative objects; stud round. <BR> <I>Ex. Her bracelet was beset with pearls.</I> noun <B>besetment.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="besetting">
<B>besetting, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> habitually attacking. <BR> <I>Ex. A besetting problem of the young foreign student ... in New York is loneliness (Harper's).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="beshow">
<B>beshow, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a dark food fish of the west coast of North America that has spiny fins; coalfish; sablefish. </DL>
<A NAME="beshrew">
<B>beshrew, </B>transitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Archaic.) to call down evil upon; curse (used as a mild exclamation). </DL>
<A NAME="beside">
<B>beside, </B>preposition, adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>prep. </I> <B>1. </B>by the side of; close to; near. <BR> <I>Ex. Grass grows beside the fence.</I> (SYN) adjoining. <DD><B> 2. </B>in addition to; over and above; besides. <BR> <I>Ex. Other men beside ourselves were helping.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>compared with. <BR> <I>Ex. The wolf seems tame beside the tiger.</I> (SYN) alongside. <DD><B> 4. </B>away from; aside from; not related to. <BR> <I>Ex. That question is beside the point and shows that you were not listening.</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>except; other than; besides. <BR> <I>Ex. ... the American novelists whom, "beside myself," he considered great (Atlantic).</I> <DD><I>adv. </I> <B>=besides.</B> <BR><I>expr. <B>beside oneself,</B> </I>out of one's senses; greatly excited with some emotion; upset. <BR> <I>Ex. He was beside himself with worry over his lost dog.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="besides">
<B>besides, </B>adverb, preposition.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adv. </I> <B>1. </B>more than that; also; moreover. <BR> <I>Ex. He didn't want to fight; besides, he had come to see the game.</I> (SYN) too, furthermore, further. <DD><B> 2. </B>in addition. <BR> <I>Ex. We tried two other ways besides.</I> (SYN) likewise. <DD><B> 3. </B>otherwise; else. <BR> <I>Ex. He is ignorant of politics, whatever he may know besides.</I> <DD><I>prep. </I> <B>1. </B>in addition to; over and above; beside. <BR> <I>Ex. Others came to the school picnic besides our own class.</I> (SYN) beyond. <DD><B> 2. </B>other than; except. <BR> <I>Ex. Her mother spoke of no one besides her daughter.</I> (SYN) save. </DL>
<A NAME="besiege">
<B>besiege, </B>transitive verb, <B>-sieged,</B> <B>-sieging.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>to try for a long time to take (a place) by armed force; surround and try to capture. <BR> <I>Ex. For ten years the Greeks besieged the city of Troy.</I> (SYN) beleaguer, invest. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) to crowd around. <BR> <I>Ex. Hundreds of admirers besieged the famous astronaut.</I> (SYN) surround. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) to overwhelm with requests or questions. <BR> <I>Ex. During the flood the Red Cross was besieged with calls for help.</I> (SYN) assail, beset. noun <B>besiegement.</B> noun <B>besieger.</B> adv. <B>besiegingly.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="besl">
<B>B. es L.,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (French.) Bachelier es Lettres (Bachelor of Letters). </DL>
<A NAME="beslobber">
<B>beslobber, </B>transitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> to slobber over. </DL>
<A NAME="beslubber">
<B>beslubber, </B>transitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> to bedabble; bedaub; besmear. </DL>
<B>besmirch, </B>transitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>to make dirty; soil. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) to sully; dim the luster of. <BR> <I>Ex. His dishonesty has besmirched his family's good name.</I> noun <B>besmircher.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="besmoke">
<B>besmoke, </B>transitive verb, <B>-smoked,</B> <B>-smoking.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>to fill with smoke; make smoky. <DD><B> 2. </B>to blacken with smoke. </DL>
<A NAME="besom">
<B>besom</B> (1), noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1a. </B>a broom made of twigs. <DD><B> b. </B>(Dialect.) any broom. <DD><B> 2. </B>a plant used for a besom, such as the common broom (the shrub) of Europe. <DD><I>v.t. </I> to sweep, as with a broom. </DL>
<A NAME="besom">
<B>besom</B> (2), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Scottish.) a low, worthless woman. </DL>
<A NAME="besot">
<B>besot, </B>transitive verb, <B>besotted</B> or <B>besot,</B> <B>besotting.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>to make foolish. <DD><B> 2. </B>to stupefy. <DD><B> 3. </B>to intoxicate. <BR> <I>Ex. (Figurative.) Robbins is besot by rhythm, visual and bodily rhythms as well as auditory (Agnes De Mille).</I> </DL>
<B>besought, </B>transitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> a past tense and a past participle of <B>beseech.</B> <BR> <I>Ex. She besought the doctor to stop the pain.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="bespake">
<B>bespake, </B>transitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Archaic.) bespoke; a past tense of <B>bespeak.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="bespangle">
<B>bespangle, </B>transitive verb, <B>-gled,</B> <B>-gling.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> to adorn with spangles or anything like them. </DL>
<A NAME="bespatter">
<B>bespatter, </B>transitive verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>to spatter all over. <BR> <I>Ex. Plaques inlaid with gold and bespattered with rubies (Observer).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to soil by spattering. <DD><B> 3. </B>to slander. noun <B>bespatterer.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="bespeak">
<B>bespeak, </B>transitive verb, <B>-spoke</B> or (Archaic) <B>-spake,</B> <B>-spoken</B> or <B>-spoke,</B> <B>-speaking.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>to ask for in advance; order; reserve. <BR> <I>Ex. We have already bespoken two tickets for the new play.</I> <DD><B> 2a. </B>to be a sign of; show; indicate. <BR> <I>Ex. The neat appearance of her room bespeaks care.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>to show in advance; point toward (some future event). <BR> <I>Ex. Circumstances that bespeak war and danger (Nathaniel Hawthorne).</I> (SYN) forebode, presage. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Archaic.) to speak to; address. <BR> <I>Ex. My gentle lord, bespeak these nobles fair (Christopher Marlowe).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="bespeckle">
<B>bespeckle, </B>transitive verb, <B>-led,</B> <B>-ling.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> to mark with speckles. </DL>
<B>bespell, </B>transitive verb, <B>-spelled,</B> <B>-spelling.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> to cast a spell on; bewitch. </DL>
<A NAME="bespoke">
<B>bespoke, </B>verb, adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>verb </I> a past tense and a past participle of <B>bespeak.</B> <BR> <I>Ex. We bespoke our tickets early.</I> <DD><I>adj. </I> (British.) made to order. <BR> <I>Ex. a bespoke overcoat.</I> <DD><I>noun </I> (British.) a bespoke article of clothing. <BR> <I>Ex. ... a collection of bargain bespokes (Punch).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="bespoken">
<B>bespoken, </B>verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> a past participle of <B>bespeak.</B> <BR> <I>Ex. Several rooms in the hotel have been bespoken for the President.</I> </DL>
<B>besprent, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Archaic.) sprinkled all over; besprinkled. <BR> <I>Ex. What gentle ghost, besprent with April dew Hails me so solemnly? (Ben Jonson).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="besprinkle">
<B>besprinkle, </B>transitive verb, <B>-kled,</B> <B>-kling.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>to sprinkle all over with something. <BR> <I>Ex. The walls were besprinkled with holy water (Edward Gibbon).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative:) <BR> <I>Ex. ... sloping banks besprinkled with pleasant villas (Charles Dickens).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="bess">
<B>B. es S.,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (French.) Bachelier es Sciences (Bachelor of Sciences). </DL>
<A NAME="bessarabian">
<B>Bessarabian, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> of Bessarabia or its people. <DD><I>noun </I> a native or inhabitant of Bessarabia. </DL>
<A NAME="besselfunction">
<B>Bessel function,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Mathematics.) any of a group of transcendental functions which are introduced by a differential equation, used especially in mathematical physics to represent quantities such as temperature, current density, and magnetic field strength as functions of space coordinates. </DL>
<B>Bessemer converter,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a large container for making molten iron into steel by the Bessemer process. </DL>
<A NAME="bessemerize">
<B>bessemerize, </B>transitive verb, <B>-ized,</B> <B>-izing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> to treat by the Bessemer process. </DL>
<A NAME="bessemerprocess">
<B>Bessemer process,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a method of making steel by forcing a blast of air through molten iron in order to burn out carbon and other impurities. </DL>
<A NAME="bessemersteel">
<B>Bessemer steel,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> steel made by the Bessemer process. </DL>
