bespeak

bespeak is defined in Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1913) with 5 senses. The full text of each entry is reproduced verbatim below.

Definitions

  1. 1.To show beforehand; to foretell; to indicate. [They] bespoke dangers . . . in order to scare the allies. Swift.
  2. 2.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.
  3. 3.To speak to; to address. [Poetic] He thus the queen bespoke. Dryden.
  4. 4.To speak. [Obs.] Milton.
  5. 5.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 (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

Related questions

Reverse-dictionary questions

Definition-first questions whose answer is bespeak.

Sources