besleep

verb

besleep

verb

Etymology From Middle English beslepen, from Old English beslǣpan (“to sleep, sleep through, sleep over”), equivalent to be- + sleep. Compare West Frisian besliepe (“to sleep with”), Dutch beslapen (“to sleep with”), German beschlafen (“to lay with”).

1

Ambitransitive, Archaic To sleep; have a sleep; sleep with.

  • Others are going about our streets, like well-meaning but beslept watchmen, calling the hours of midnight, while the morning is paling their lanterns.1859, George Gilfillan, The poets and poetry of the Bible:
  • He still beslept himself as we passed; he being a slumbersome person.1926, Blanche Colton Williams, Best American stories:
1 more example
  • He knows the last but whom the god beslept.1973, Georg Peter Landmann, Stefan George in fremden Sprachen:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.