betide
Verb
Verb Forms: betided, betiding, betides
- To happen to someone; to befall.
- become of; happen to
- Often used in a prediction (chiefly in woe betide) or a wish: to happen to (someone or something); to befall.
- Chiefly in the third person: to happen; to take place; to bechance, to befall.
Examples
- Woe betide the player who challenges my knowledge of two-letter words.
Origin / Etymology
From Middle English bityden [and other forms]; from bi- (prefix forming verbs, usually with a completive, figurative, or intensive sense) + tyden (“to come about, happen, occur; to befall, become of, happen to (someone); to be the fate of (someone); to await (someone); to fare, get along”); tyden is derived from Old English tīdan (“to befall, betide, happen”), related to tīd (“time; season; hour”) (both ultimately either from Proto-Indo-European *deh₂- (“to divide, share”) or *dī- (“time”)) + -an (suffix forming the infinitive of most verbs). The English word is analysable as be- + tide (“(obsolete) to happen, occur”).
Synonyms
bechance, befall, belimp, betide, betime, chance, come about, come to pass, crop up, evene, eventuate, go on, hap, happen, hold, occur, pass, take place, tide, transpire
Scrabble Score: 9
betide: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordbetide: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
betide: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary