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
In Sango, the national tongue, there is a phrase for this: kanga bey.
From Slate ● Aug. 29, 2014
A governor of a province or district in the Turkish dominions; also, in some places, a prince or nobleman; a beg; as, the bey of Tunis.
From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (2nd 100 Pages) by Webster, Noah
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
An attempt was made to ensnare certain of the beys, who were encamped north of Cairo.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 1 "Edwardes" to "Ehrenbreitstein" by Various
Landowning beys would get peasants into their debt and thus establish themselves as semifeudal patrons of formerly independent villagers.
From Area Handbook for Albania by Elpern, Sarah Jane
Local control rested with pashas and beys, and some became virtually independent of Turkish rule.
From Area Handbook for Albania by Elpern, Sarah Jane
Twenty-four beys, each of whom had five or six hundred Mamelukes under his command, governed this singular body of cavalry.
From Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol IV. No. XX. January, 1852. 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.
