besing
verbEtymology From Middle English besingen, from Old English besingan (“to sing of, bewail, sing charms, enchant”), from Proto-West Germanic *bisingwan (“to sing about”), equivalent to be- (“of, about”) + sing. Cognate with Saterland Frisian besjunge (“to sing about”), West Frisian besjonge (“to sing about, praise”), Dutch bezingen (“to sing of, chant”), German besingen (“to sing of, sing the praises of”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål besynge (“to sing of”), Swedish besjunga (“to sing of”).
1
To sing of or sing about; celebrate in song or poetry; sing the praises of; praise; laud.
- I have read Stories, (I fear, too true ones;) how young Lords, like you, Have thus besung mean Windows, rhymed their Sufferings Ev'n to th' Abuse of Things Divine, set up Plain Girls, like me, the Idols of their Worship, Then left them […]1728, William Shakespeare, Mr. Theobald (Lewis), John Fletcher, Double falshood:
- Let him dwindle into a modish balladmonger; let him worship and besing the idols of the time, and the time will not fail to reward him.1854, Thomas Carlyle, Burns:
2 more examples
- And in the meanwhile, how can a poet better employ himself (provided he does not confine his subject-matter to the Greeks, who have already besung themselves far better than we can sing them, and to the Romans, who were besung by our Elizabethan poets better than they ever will be sung again), [...]1972, Isobel Armstrong, Victorian scrutinies:
- […] Blanckenburg pointed out that one of the differences between the epic and the novel was that the classic epic was a "heroic poem" besinging the "public acts and events", the "actions of the citizen"; […]2001, Jørgen Bruhn, Jan Lundquist, The novelness of Bakhtin: perspectives and possibilities:
2
To sing to.
- Derived terms
- besinging, besung