bespeaks

Verb

bespeak (third-person singular simple present bespeaks, present participle bespeaking, simple past bespoke or (archaic) bespake, past participle bespoken or (archaic) bespoke)

1. (archaic, formal, transitive) To speak about; tell of; relate; discuss.
   • [They] bespoke dangers […] in order to scare the allies.1711, Jonathan Swift, The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 3, The Examiner, Number 44, page 244

   Synonyms:

   betalk, chat, talk about, bechat, confer, discuss, moot, talk over, treat

2. (dated, transitive) To speak for beforehand; engage in advance; make arrangements for; order, commission, reserve or arrange for something to be made in advance.
   • '[…] I am come here to bespeak Fanny a seal […]'1811, [Jane Austen], chapter XI, in Sense and Sensibility […], volume II, London: […] C[harles] Roworth, […], and published by T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC
3. (transitive) To stipulate, solicit, ask for, or request, as in a favour.
   • to bespeak a calm hearing
4. (archaic, transitive) To forbode; foretell.
5. (archaic, poetic, transitive) To speak to; address.
   • Then ſtaring on her with a ghaſtly Look, / And hollow Voice, he thus the Queen beſpoke.1717, John Dryden, “Book XI. [The House of Sleep.]”, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 401
6. (transitive) To betoken; show; indicate; depict; foretell; suggest; allude to.
   • This act bespeaks his kindness.

See all 8 meanings of bespeak