BESPEAK (bespoke, bespoken)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: bespoke    , bespoken   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does bespeak mean? 

• BESPEAK (verb)
  The verb BESPEAK has 2 senses:

1. be a signal for or a symptom of

2. express the need or desire for

  Familiarity information: BESPEAK used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BESPEAK (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they bespeak    ... he / she / it bespeaks   
Past simple: bespoke   
Past participle: bespoken   
-ing form: bespeaking   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Be a signal for or a symptom of

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

bespeak; betoken; indicate; point; signal

Context example:

The economic indicators signal that the euro is undervalued

Hypernyms (to "bespeak" is one way to...):

tell (let something be known)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "bespeak"):

augur; auspicate; betoken; bode; forecast; foreshadow; foretell; omen; portend; predict; prefigure; presage; prognosticate (indicate, as with a sign or an omen)

mark (designate as if by a mark)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Express the need or desire for

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

ask for; bespeak; call for; quest; request

Context example:

when you call, always ask for Mary

Hypernyms (to "bespeak" is one way to...):

communicate; pass; pass along; pass on; put across (transmit information)

Verb group:

call for; invite (request the participation or presence of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "bespeak"):

ask (make a request or demand for something to somebody)

book; hold; reserve (arrange for and reserve (something for someone else) in advance)

ask; ask out; invite out; take out (make a date)

call (call a meeting; invite or command to meet)

ask over; ask round; invite (invite someone to one's house)

arrogate; claim; lay claim (demand as being one's due or property; assert one's right or title to)

beg (ask to obtain free)

desire (express a desire for)

ask in; invite (ask to enter)

call for; invite (request the participation or presence of)

claim (ask for legally or make a legal claim to, as of debts, for example)

demand (ask to be informed of)

beg off; excuse (ask for permission to be released from an engagement)

challenge (ask for identification)

reserve (obtain or arrange (for oneself) in advance)

beg; solicit; tap (make a solicitation or entreaty for something; request urgently or persistently)

apply (ask (for something))

supplicate (ask for humbly or earnestly, as in prayer)

appeal; invoke (request earnestly (something from somebody); ask for aid or protection)

demand (request urgently and forcefully)

petition (write a petition for something to somebody; request formally and in writing)

encore (request an encore, from a performer)

order (make a request for something)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

 Context examples 

I am bespoke myself, said Uriah, on business; otherwise I should have been appy to have kept with my friends.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I am come here to bespeak Fanny a seal.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

He approached; his countenance bespoke bitter anguish, combined with disdain and malignity, while its unearthly ugliness rendered it almost too horrible for human eyes.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

A dead silence throughout the room, with a rolling of heads and upturning of eyes, bespoke the pious horror of the community.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He recognised One Ear's yell of pain and terror, and he heard a wolf-cry that bespoke a stricken animal.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

We bespeak your indulgence, you understand, as young performers; we bespeak your indulgence.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

It would be of no use to go to Uppercross again, for that other Miss Musgrove, I find, is bespoke by her cousin, the young parson.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

Berkeley Craven was saying in the club last night that there is not a bed within twenty miles of Crawley which is not bespoke, and that they are charging three guineas for the night.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Late at night they arrived at an inn; and as it was bad travelling in the dark, and the duck seemed much tired, and waddled about a good deal from one side to the other, they made up their minds to fix their quarters there: but the landlord at first was unwilling, and said his house was full, thinking they might not be very respectable company: however, they spoke civilly to him, and gave him the egg which Partlet had laid by the way, and said they would give him the duck, who was in the habit of laying one every day: so at last he let them come in, and they bespoke a handsome supper, and spent the evening very jollily.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

But in spite of this great love he bore John Thornton, which seemed to bespeak the soft civilizing influence, the strain of the primitive, which the Northland had aroused in him, remained alive and active.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)