beshrew

American  

[bih-shroo] / bɪˈʃru /

verb (used with object)

Archaic.

1. to curse; invoke evil upon.

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beshrew British  

/ bɪˈʃruː /

verb

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

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Etymology

Origin of beshrew

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

Explanation

To beshrew is to invoke a curse on someone. Horrified at discovering an empty baking pan, you might yell, "Beshrew all of you who ate my brownies!" The verb beshrew is so old fashioned that you're most likely to discover it in a play or poem by Shakespeare, who used it frequently. When the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet says, "Beshrew your heart for sending me about, to catch my death with jaunting up and down!", what she means is "Curse you for making me run around so much!" Beshrew comes from shrew, an animal believed to have a poisonous bite.

Example Sentences

Are you here, Margaret?" she exclaimed; "beshrew me, I thought thee asleep two good hours ago, instead of throwing thy company away upon a young man, and a stranger.

From Graham's Magazine, Vol XXXIII, No. 6, December 1848 by Various

There's the wine, an it's not better than your temper, beshrew me for the enemy of true hospitality.

From Under the Rose by Isham, Frederic Stewart

I like thy spirit, and, beshrew me, 'twill serve thee better with a sensible maiden than any amount of pretty speeches and cooing verses.

From Sea-Dogs All! A Tale of Forest and Sea by Bevan, Tom

And I do lustily beshrew fate that these be but dreams.

From Eugene Field, a Study in Heredity and Contradictions — Volume 2 by Thompson, Slason

I have heard talk here, there, at the court even, else, beshrew me, if I had come this way to-day!

From Sir Mortimer by Johnston, Mary