beshrew

American

[bih-shroo] / bɪˈʃru /

verb (used with object)

Archaic.

to curse; invoke evil upon.

beshrew British

/ bɪˈʃruː /

verb

archaic (tr) to wish evil on; curse (used in mild oaths such as beshrew me )

"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

Etymology

Origin of beshrew

First recorded in 1275–1325, beshrew is from the Middle English word beshrewen. See be-, shrew ¹

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

"Before supper, excellency, I was ready to eat and then fight my way through an army; now beshrew me, if a sound nap of an hour or so is not much to my taste!"

From Project Gutenberg

Is not Eve's flesh upon the bones of the very best jade in Christendom? and this blowzy-bell of thine, beshrew me, has no better a covering than the rest of 'em.

From Project Gutenberg

But listen now: I have weightier matters; I have eggs on the spit, beshrew me else!

From Project Gutenberg

No, marry, thou sawest me not; for why thou hadst no light; But I felt thee for all the dark, beshrew thy smooth cheeks!

From Project Gutenberg

Were it not that I fear the Dane, beshrew me if I would ask aught better than to dwell therein.”

From Project Gutenberg

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023