becloud

t. [Eng. prefix be, and cloud, v.] To cloud; to cover as with a cloud. "Storms of tears Becloud his eyes, which soon fore'd smiling clears." P. Fletcher: Pisc. Ecol. 5, st. 15. bě-cloud-ěd, pa . par . & a. [BECLOUD.] "Stella oft sees the very face of woe Painted in my beclouded stormy face." Sidney: Astrophel and Stella. bě-cloud-ing, pr . par . & a. [BECLOUD.] bě-com'e, * bě-com'me, * bi-com'e, bi come, by come, v.i. & t. [Eng. pref. be , and come . The v.i. is from A.S. becuman (pret. becom, be com on; pa. par. becumen ) = (1) to go or enter into, to meet with, to come me to, to come together; (2) to come, to happen, to fall out, to befall. In Sw. bekomma, Dan. bekomme, Dut. bekomen, Ger. bekommen all =to get, to receive, to obtain the German verb also being = to have; O. H. Ger. piquë man; Goth. bikwiman . From A.S. cum an; O. H. Ger. queman , chueman ; Goth. beqviman . (COME.) Comp. also Sw. bequam fit, convenient, apt, proper, qualified, easy Dan. bequemmelig ; Ger. beem commodious, easy.] [COMELY.] A. Intransitive , or more exactly, a Copula or Apposition Verb like the verb to be . [Directly from A.S. becuman . (See etym.).] In a general sense to pa from one state or condition into another, more especially to grow into something more developed, greater, more powerful, or in other respects more satisfactory, or to recede into something smaller, more degenerate, more withered and decaying. "And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews."-1 Cor. ix. 20. the Camp bells, the children of Diarmid, had become in the Highlands what the Bourbons had become in Europe."-Macaulay: Hist. Eng., ch. xiii. for all thy ble ed youth Becomes as aged, and doth beg the alms Of palsied eld." Shakesp.: Meas for Meas., iil. 1. To become of : To be the final state, condition, or place into or to which any specified person or thing has as yet pa ed; to be the present fate of. (Used only after the interrogation what , which may refer to a person or a thing.) "The first hints of the circulation of the blood were taken from a common person's wondering what became of all the blood which i ued out of the heart.."Graunt. We very frequently find such a phrase as "where is he become" = to our "what has become of him." Thus in Gower's Conf . Amant. ii. 120, "per wiste non wher he becam . " See also Joseph of Arimathie , 607, . B. Transitive. [Directly from A.S. becuman =to please. (See etym.).] 1. To be suitable for, to befit, to be congruous with, to be proper to or for, to be in harmony with. Used (a) As an ordinary personal verb. "If I become not a cart as well as another man..." -Shakesp.: 1 Hen. IV ., 11. 4. "But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine."- Titus ii. 1. (b) As an impersonal verb. "Only let your conversation be as it be cometh the gospel of Christ..."- Phil . 1. 27. 2. To be the present fate of, to have become of. (See v.i.) (In the subjoined example, Where is become = what has become of.) "I cannot joy, until I be resolv'd Where our right valiant father is become ." Shakesp.: 3 Hen. VI., il. L. To become of (nominally as v.t.): To be the present fate of. The expre ion "What is become of you?" is a le proper way of saying "What has become of you?"