bey
Americannoun
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beys
plural
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a provincial governor in the Ottoman Empire.
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(formerly) a title of respect for Turkish dignitaries.
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(formerly) the title of the ruler of Tunis or Tunisia.
noun
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(in the Ottoman Empire) a title given to senior officers, provincial governors, certain other officials or nobles, and (sometimes) Europeans
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(in modern Turkey) a title of address, corresponding to Mr
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of bey
First recorded in 1590–1600; from Turkish, by-form of earlier beg, Old Turkic beg “subordinate chief, head of a clan,” perhaps from a Middle Chinese word akin to Chinese bǎi “hundred” (Guangdong diaect baak )
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.
See Examples For:
The early-signing period is 300 days away — a long time to keep the marauders at bey.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 20, 2020
From the moment each hot and hopeful foreigner sets foot in the United States, the pair has 90 days to get married, or international bey has to return home.
From Salon ● Dec. 22, 2018
The use of encryption should be mainly to keep common criminals at bey, and maybe some forms of organized crime.
From New York Times ● Feb. 24, 2016
Faced with index-anchoring poverty, chronic political collapse, and cartoonish corruption, Central Africans say kanga bey.
From Slate ● Aug. 29, 2014
Ali Bey surely must have been a Serbian bey.
From An Anthology of Jugoslav Poetry; Serbian Lyrics by Various
The beys were subsequently blamed for clearing the way for seven decades of French rule and were condemned to obscurity by Mr. Bourguiba after Tunisia’s independence.
From New York Times ● Feb. 6, 2017
Mehemet Ali, meanwhile, was conducting an expedition against the beys in Upper Egypt, and he had defeated them near Assiut, when he heard of the arrival of the British.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 1 "Edwardes" to "Ehrenbreitstein" by Various
Morrison objected, very pertinently, that as the beys were not deceased the Sultan could scarcely be looked upon as their heir.
From The Lion of Janina The Last Days of the Janissaries by Mór Jókai
While these scenes were being enacted, al-Alfī was besieging Damanhur, and the other beys were returning towards Cairo, Khorshīd having called them to his assistance; but Mehemet Ali forced them to retreat.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 1 "Edwardes" to "Ehrenbreitstein" by Various
The happiest and wealthiest peasants of the empire were found among the vassals of the beys, to whom they showed great devotion.
From The Continental Monthly, Vol 3 No 3, March 1863 Devoted To Literature And National Policy by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
