Word.ws English Dictionary

beshrewing

beshrewing is the present participle and gerund of beshrew.

Meaning of beshrew

Verb

beshrew (third-person singular simple present beshrews, present participle beshrewing, simple past and past participle beshrewed)

  1. (archaic, transitive) To invoke or wish evil upon; to curse.
    • Beshrew me, but you have a quick wit.c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
  2. (transitive) An imperative uttered as a mildly imprecatory or merely expletive introductory exclamation.
    • Beshrew your heart, fair daughter!c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […]...

Questions about beshrewing

What is beshrewing the present participle and gerund of?
Beshrewing is the present participle and gerund of beshrew.

Words near beshrewing in the dictionary

  1. beshouting
  2. beshouts
  3. beshow
  4. beshrew
  5. beshrewed
  6. beshrewing
  7. beshrews
  8. beshroud
  9. beshrouded
  10. beshrouding
  11. beshrouds

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: beshrewing (page history and authors); beshrew (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “beshrewing.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/beshrewing. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.