beest meaning (archaic): definition, etymology and quotations

beest

verb

Etymology From Middle English bēst, biest, beost, bist, from Old English bist; equivalent to be + -est. Compare West Frisian bist, German bist.

Archaic, Indicative, Present, Second person, Subjunctive second-person singular present indicative or subjunctive of be

Stephano! if thou beest Stephano, touch me, and speake to me: for I am Trinculo; be not afeard, thy good friend Trinculo.1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:
If thou, to be so seene, beest loath, / By Sunne, or Moone, thou darknest both […].a. 1631 (date written), J[ohn] Donne, “The Baite”, in Poems, […] with Elegies on the Authors Death, London: […] M[iles] F[lesher] for Iohn Marriot, […], published 1633, →OCLC:

noun

Etymology See beestings.

beestings, colostrum