betake

• IPA^(key): /bɪˈteɪk/
• Rhymes: -eɪk

From Middle English betaken, bitaken, in form equivalent to be- +‎ take, however, in sense from betæcen, betechen (“to beteach”). More at beteach.

betake (third-person singular simple present betakes, present participle betaking, simple past betook, past participle betaken)

1. (transitive) To beteach.

From Middle English bitaken, equivalent to be- +‎ take. Cognate with Danish betage (“to take, deprive, cut off”), Swedish betaka (“to take, deprive, cut off”).

betake (third-person singular simple present betakes, present participle betaking, simple past betook, past participle betaken)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To take over to; take across (to); deliver.
2. (transitive, obsolete) To seize; lay hold of; take. [from 15th c.]
   • 1891, Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country, Nebraska 2005, p. 194:

     a rain-cloud [...] had betaken a dusky brown color, and about its lower verge a fringe of fine straight lines of rain was suggested [...].

3. (reflexive, archaic) To take oneself to; go or move; repair; resort; have recourse. [from 17th c.]
   • 1831, Catherine Grace Frances Gore, The Tuileries, volume 3, page 175:

     […] the shepherds of Desvres were seen at a distance betaking themselves to the insufficient shelter of the turfen hovels dotted upon the cote to afford them a retreat from the vicissitudes of the atmosphere.

   • 1885, Sir Richard Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Night 12:

     I was glad of my arrival for I was wearied with the way, and yellow of face for weakness and want; but my plight was pitiable and I knew not whither to betake me.

   • 1924, Herman Melville, Billy Budd, London: Constable & Co., Chapter 12,

     […] he mechanically rose, and sleepily wondering what could be in the wind, betook himself to the designated place […]

   They betook themselves to treaty and submission. — Burke.

   The rest, in imitation, to like arms / Betook them. — Milton.

4. (reflexive, archaic) To commit to a specified action. [from 16th c.]
5. (transitive, archaic) To commend or entrust to; to commit to.
6. (intransitive, archaic) To take oneself. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

• wend