bethrow
bethrow verb: to throw or twist about; throw off; torture.
Verb
bethrow (third-person singular simple present bethrows, present participle bethrowing, simple past bethrew, past participle bethrown)
- To throw or twist about; throw off; torture.
- Gioseso, hauing prouided a good Holly-wand, went into the Chamber, where his wife sate railing, and despitefully grumbling, where taking her by the haire of her head, bethrew her at his feete, beating her entreamely with the wand.1620, Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron, Containing an Hundred Pleasant Nouels
- Were I a flower what would I do, […]
I would be growing to be
Be made into a garland to
To bethrow
two people in a
A bond of marriage or
Or adorn,
the neck of someone honoured
at a drop of a hat.2013, Amritpal Singh, Journies of Fledging Steps, page 34
Forms of bethrow
| third-person singular present | bethrows |
|---|---|
| present participle | bethrowing |
| past | bethrew |
| past participle | bethrown |
Origin of bethrow
From Middle English bethrowen, from Old English beþrāwan (“to twist”), equivalent to be- + throw. Cognate with West Frisian bedraaie (“to cheat, deceive”), Dutch bedraaien (“to involve”), German bedrehen (“to heave to, come to”).
Questions about bethrow
- What does bethrow mean?
- Bethrow means to throw or twist about; throw off; torture.
- What part of speech is bethrow?
- Bethrow is a verb.
- What is the past tense of bethrow?
- The past tense of bethrow is bethrew.
Words near bethrow in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: bethrow (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: “bethrow.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bethrow. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.