betide
Syllables: be·tide/bɪˈtaɪd/US/bəˈtaɪd/
betide verb: often used in a prediction (chiefly in woe betide) or a wish: to happen to (someone or something); to befall.
Verb
betide (third-person singular simple present betides, present participle betiding, simple past and past participle betid or betided)
- Often used in a prediction (chiefly in woe betide) or a wish: to happen to (someone or something); to befall.
- Whether good or ill betide you, trust in yourself.
- Why wayle we then? why weary we the Gods with playnts, / As if ſome euill were to her betight? / She raignes a goddeſſe now emong the ſaintes, / That whilome was the ſaynt of ſhepheardes light: / And is enſtalled nowe in heauens hight.1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “Nouember. Ægloga Vndecima.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Hugh Singleton, […], →OCLC, folio 46, verso
- Chiefly in the third person: to happen; to take place; to bechance, to befall.
- If he were dead what would betide of me.c. 1593 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Tragedy of King Richard the Third. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Valentine Sims [and Peter Short] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1597, →OCLC...
- [W]ipe thou thine eyes, haue comfort, / The direfull ſpectacle of the wracke which touch'd / The very vertue of compaſſion in thee: / I haue with ſuch prouiſion in mine Art / So ſafely ordered, that there is no ſoule / No not ſo much perdition as an hayre / Betid to any creature in the veſſel /...1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published...
betide meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and Arabic
betide in Tamil
- நிகழ், வந்துநேர்
betide in Urdu
- عرض ہونا, گرنا, پڑنا
betide in Malayalam
- take place, happen, occur
- വന്നുകൂടുക, ഉളവാകുക, സംഭവിക്കുക, നടക്കുക, ഉണ്ടാകുക, നേരിടുക
betide in Arabic
- (intransitive) to happen; to take place — see also bechance, befall
- نَهَرَ nahara
Examples of betide in a sentence
- More health and happines betide my liege, / Then can my care tunde tongue deliuer him.1595 December 9 (first known performance), [William Shakespeare], The Tragedie of King Richard the Second. […] (First Quarto), London: […]...
- But woe betide the wandering wight, / That treads its circle in the night.1808 February 22, Walter Scott, “Canto Third. The Hostel, or Inn.”, in Marmion; a Tale of Flodden Field, Edinburgh: […] J[ames] Ballantyne...
- Ill betide those foul birds that delight to file their own nest, and disgust the ear with perpetual discord of ill-omened croak.1845 July and August, John O’Sullivan, “Annexation”, in United States Magazine and Democratic Review, volume 17, number 1, page 2:
- Be not dismayed whate'er betide, / God will take care of you; / Beneath his wings of love abide, / God will take care of you.1904, “God Will Take Care of You”, Civilla Durfee Martin (lyrics), Walter Stillman Martin (music):
Synonyms of betide
11 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of betide
| third-person singular present | betides |
|---|---|
| present participle | betiding |
| past participle | betid |
| past | betid |
| past participle | betided |
| past | betided |
| second-person singular present (archaic) | betidest |
| second-person singular past (archaic) | betidedst |
| third-person singular present (archaic) | betideth |
Origin of betide
From Middle English bityden [and other forms]; from bi- (prefix forming verbs, usually with a completive, figurative, or intensive sense) + tyden (“to come about, happen, occur; to befall, become of, happen to (someone); to be the fate of (someone); to await (someone); to fare, get along”); tyden is derived from Old English tīdan (“to befall, betide, happen”), related to tīd (“time; season; hour”) (both ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *deh₂- (“to divide, share”) or its extended form *deh₂-y-, whence *dh₂ítis (“time”)) + -an (suffix forming the infinitive of most verbs). The English word is analysable as be- + tide (“(obsolete) to happen, occur”).
Words formed from betide
Words that rhyme with betide
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- provide
- tied
- fried
- glide
- hide
- inside
- bide
- decide
- offside
- -side
- collide
- confide
- flipside
- set aside
- stride
- subside
- aside
- beride
- beside
- bestride
- chide
- coincide
- cyanide
- dried
- elide
- eyed
- gride
- preside
- reside
- Ryde
- allied
- applied
- astride
- bride
- deride
- dyed
- guyed
- I'd
- imide
- incide
- pied
- right side
- said
- snide
- statewide
- tried
- vide
- allide
Questions about betide
- What does betide mean?
- Betide means often used in a prediction (chiefly in woe betide) or a wish: to happen to (someone or something); to befall.
- What is betide in Tamil?
- Betide in Tamil is நிகழ், வந்துநேர். See Betide meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use betide in a sentence?
- More health and happines betide my liege, / Then can my care tunde tongue deliuer him.
- What part of speech is betide?
- Betide is a verb.
- How do you pronounce betide?
- Betide is pronounced /bɪˈtaɪd/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of betide?
- The past tense of betide is betid.
Words near betide in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: betide (page history and authors); betide (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); betide (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); betide (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). 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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-betide.wav.
Cite this entry: “betide.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/betide. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.