beware, be ware, be war

i. & t. [Eng. verb be, and ware = be wary; A.S. warian to be on one's guard, wær = (1) wary, cautious, provident, (2) prepared, ready. Compare also A.S. be war i an, bewærian, bewerian = to defend; be warn i an = to beware, to warn; werian, wærian = to wear, to fortify, to defend; Sw. bevara; Dan. bevare = to preserve; Dut. bewaren to beware, to preserve, to guard; Ger. bewahren to protect, to save.] [WARE, WARY.] A. Intransitive: 1. To be wary regarding; to be on one's guard against; to take care of. Formerly it was used, though perhaps only by poets, in the pres. indic. and in the pa. par. "Looks after honours and bewares to act What straightway he must labour to retract." B. Jonson: Transl. of Horace. Now it is only found in the infinitive and in the imperative. In both these cases be is the part of the substantive verb required by the inflexion; where been and not be is required, beware , which really consists of the two words be and ware , is not employed. (a) The infinitive . "Every one ought to be very careful to beware what he admits for a principle."- Locke . (b) The imperative . "Beware of all, but most beware of man.' Pope: Rape of the Lock, i. 114. It may be followed by of, lest, or the clause of a sentence introduced by what . [a and b .] B. Trans.: Formed from the intransitive verb by omitting of . (Used only in poetry when the nece ities of the verse require it.) To be on one's guard against. " Beware the pine-tree's withered branch, Beware the awful avalanche!" Long fellow: Excelsior. bě-waste', v.t. [Eng. be , and waste .] To waste utterly. "My oil-dried lamp and time- be wasted light."Shakesp.: Rich . 11., 1. 2. bě-wave (1), * be-waue, vt . & i. [A.S. wafian = to to , knock about.] To waver. A. Transitive : To cause to waver. B. Intransitive: To to . "Gyf ony schyp thar on mucht be persauit, Quhilk late before the wind is had bewauit," Doug.: Virgil, 18, 41. IMG:content-1293.png:[blocks in formation] De-weep'-ing, pr . par . [BEWEEP.] bě-wěpt', * be-wope, pa . par . & a . [BEWEEP.] "Which bewept to the grave did go. Shakesp. Hamlet , iv. 5. bě-wěst', prep. & adv . [Scotch be (prep.) = by; towards.] Towards the west.