BESPEAK

v. n.

6 definitions — Webster’s Dictionary (1828)

1.
v.

To speak or arrange for beforehand; to order or engage against a future time; as, to bespeak goods, a right, or a favor. Concluding, naturally, that to gratify his avarice was to bespeak his favor. Sir W. Scott.

2.
v.

To show beforehand; to foretell; to indicate. [They] bespoke dangers . . . in order to scare the allies. Swift.

3.
v.

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.

4.
v.

To speak to; to address. [Poetic] He thus the queen bespoke. Dryden.

5.
v.

To speak. [Obs.] Milton.

6.
n.

A bespeaking. Among actors, a benefit (when a particular play is bespoken.) "The night of her bespeak." Dickens.

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