Dictionary.com
definitions
  • synonyms

behove

[bih-hohv]
See more synonyms for behove on Thesaurus.com
verb (used with or without object), be·hoved, be·hov·ing. Chiefly British.
  1. behoove.
Show More
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for behoved

Historical Examples

  • Why should you have had any thought but for the game you were playing, and how it behoved you to play it?

    That Boy Of Norcott's

    Charles James Lever

  • But she knew that in her present condition it behoved her to be especially careful.

    Kept in the Dark

    Anthony Trollope

  • For Messer Cino, it behoved him also to advise seriously about his position.

    Little Novels of Italy

    Maurice Henry Hewlett

  • In so dire a crisis it behoved a leading man to weigh his words.

  • He behoved, he judged, to be sick; an' sick he was—little he jaloosed the sickness.

British Dictionary definitions for behoved

behove

US behoove (bɪˈhuːv)

verb
  1. (tr; impersonal) archaic to be necessary or fitting forit behoves me to arrest you
Show More

Word Origin

Old English behōfian; related to Middle Low German behōven
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for behoved

behove

chiefly British English spelling of behoove.

Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper