besit
besit verb: to sit around; sit about; besiege.
Verb
besit (third-person singular simple present besits, present participle besitting, simple past besat, past participle besat or (archaic) besitten)
- To sit around; sit about; besiege.
- When not deep in thought, his blue eyes dance. I feel sometimes that behind his thoughtful gaze besits a hint of strain.2003, Lawrence Murray, The Kassandra Complex, page 473
- To sit upon; occupy.
- In such contexts, the ישבים are those who “besit” large estates and seats of judgment and power. The ישב par excellence is the king who “besits” the throne.2006, Philip Francis Esler, Ancient Israel: The Old Testament in Its Social Context, page 157
- To sit properly upon, as clothes; to suit; become.
Forms of besit
| third-person singular present | besits |
|---|---|
| present participle | besitting |
| past | besat |
| past participle | besat |
| past participle (archaic) | besitten |
Origin of besit
From Middle English besitten, from Old English besittan (“to sit round, surround, beset, besiege, hold, council, occupy, possess”), from Proto-West Germanic *bisittjan, from Proto-Germanic *bisitjaną (“to sit near, sit among or around”), equivalent to be- + sit. Cognate with Dutch bezitten, German besitzen, Norwegian Bokmål besitte, Danish besidde, Swedish besitta, Gothic 𐌱𐌹𐍃𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (bisitan).
Words that rhyme with besit
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about besit
- What does besit mean?
- Besit means to sit around; sit about; besiege.
- What part of speech is besit?
- Besit is a verb.
- What is the past tense of besit?
- The past tense of besit is besat.
Words near besit in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: besit (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: “besit.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/besit. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.