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to take care; -- commonly followed by of or lest before the thing that is to be avoided. Beware of all, but most beware of man ! Pope. Beware the awful avalanche. Longfellow.

Unawares. [Obs.] Bale.

r caveat against a conclusion. Jeffrey. Caveat emptor Etym: [L.] (Law), let the purchaser beware, i. e., let him examine the article he is buying, and act on his own judgment.

To carry on trade; to traffic. [Obs.] Beware you commerce not with bankrupts. B. Jonson.

beginning is made; the commencement; initiation; as, a difficult entrance into business. "Beware of entrance to a quarrel." Shak. St. Augustine, in the entrance of one of his discourses, makes a kind of apology. Hakewill.

tile, venomous teeth of serpents. Also, one of the falcers of a spider. Since I am a dog, beware my fangs. Shak.

Anything which makes a general assimilating (especially a corrupting) change in the mass. Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Luke xii. 1.

An advocate or pleader. Let him who works the client wrong Beware the patron's ire. Macaulay.

; as, a plant shoots out a bud. They shoot out the lip, they shake the head. Ps. xxii. 7. Beware the secret snake that shoots a sting. Dryden.

False semblance; deceitful appearance; pretense. Beware of the scribes, . . . which devour widows' houses, and for a shew make long prayers. Luke xx. 46. 47.

To pass inadvertently. Beware thou slide not by it. Ecclus. xxviii. 26.

; an act. The reputation of a man depends on the first steps he makes in the world. Pope. Beware of desperate steps. The darkest day, Live till to-morrow, will have passed away. Cowper. I have lately taken steps . . . to relieve the old gentleman's distresses. G. W. Cable.

anguish; to be in agony; to labor in any kind of difficulty or distress. 'T is wisdom to beware, And better shun the bait than struggle in the snare. Dryden.

s, a ticklish business. Surely princes had need, in tender matters and ticklish times, to beware what they say. Bacon. -- Tic"klish*ly, adv. -- Tic"klish*ness, n.

A ware; taking notice; hence, wary; cautious; on one's guard. See Beware. [Obs.] She was ware and knew it bet [better] than he. Chaucer. Of whom be thou ware also. 2. Tim. iv. 15. He is ware enough; he is wily and circumspect for stirring up any sedition. Latimer. The only good that grows of passed fear Is to be wise,…