betrim
Syllables: be·trim/bɪˈtɹɪm/US/bəˈtɹɪm/
betrim verb: to trim (“decorate”); to adorn, deck, or embellish.
Verb
betrim (third-person singular simple present betrims, present participle betrimming, simple past and past participle betrimmed)
- To trim (“decorate”); to adorn, deck, or embellish.
- Thy bankes with pioned, and twilled brims / Which ſpungie Aprill, at thy heſt betrims; / To make cold Nymphes chaſt crownes; […]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...
- [S]ome folke perhaps according to the forme by your ſelves preſcribed, doe ſometimes betrim you with ſuch ſtrange Titles, but are you ſo ſimple as to conceit that wiſe men do fancy them to belong unto you?1648, Edw[ard] Symmons, “Sect. XXVIII. A Faithful and Ministeriall Admonition, to the Troubles of Our Israel: […]”, in A Vindication of King Charles: Or, A Loyal Subject’s Duty. […], [London?]...
Examples of betrim in a sentence
- But when in honour'd Robes I ſee it put, / Betrim'd as if ſome thing of Worth it were, / Look big, and on the Stilts of Greatneſs ſtrut; / From ſcorning it I cannot then forbear.1684, R[ichard] B[urton] [pseudonym; Nathaniel Crouch], “The Eighth Emblem Illustrated”, in Choice Emblems, Divine and Moral, Antient and...
- I could not half the Pageant Ills o'ercall, / That garniſh and betrim the gloomy Wall.[1715], Lew[is] Theobald, The Cave of Poverty, a Poem. […], London: […] Jonas Browne […], and sold by J. Roberts […], →OCLC, stanza XXVI...
- Fair, fickle month, now peevish as a child / That frets in middle of the Pleasures' bowers; / Now winsome as a bride betrimmed with flowers, / Laughing like wit when exquisitely wild,— […]1840 April, “April. A Sonnet.”, in William E[vans] Burton, editor, Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine, and American Monthly Review, volume VI...
- I must betrim myself to-day in all / My rarest ornaments of royalty; […]1845, William Tennant, “Esther; or the Fall of Haman”, in Hebrew Dramas: Founded on Incidents of Bible-history, Edinburgh: John Menzies...
Synonyms of betrim
14 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of betrim
| third-person singular present | betrims |
|---|---|
| present participle | betrimming |
| past participle | betrimmed |
| past | betrimmed |
Origin of betrim
From be- (prefix meaning ‘about; around’) + trim.
Words formed from betrim
Words that rhyme with betrim
Questions about betrim
- What does betrim mean?
- Betrim means to trim (“decorate”); to adorn, deck, or embellish.
- How do you use betrim in a sentence?
- But when in honour'd Robes I ſee it put, / Betrim'd as if ſome thing of Worth it were, / Look big, and on the Stilts of Greatneſs ſtrut; / From ſcorning it I cannot then forbear.
- What part of speech is betrim?
- Betrim is a verb.
- How do you pronounce betrim?
- Betrim is pronounced /bɪˈtɹɪm/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of betrim?
- The past tense of betrim is betrimmed.
Words near betrim in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: betrim (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-betrim.wav.
Cite this entry: “betrim.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/betrim. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.