betoken
verbEtymology
From Middle English bitoknen, bitacnen, from Old English betācnian (“to betoken, signify, designate”), from Proto-West Germanic *bitaiknijan. Equivalent to be- + token. Cognate with Dutch betekenen (“to mean, signify”), German bezeichnen (“to call, designate”), Swedish beteckna (“to represent, designate, indicate”) and Danish betegne (“to represent, designate, indicate”).
- inherited from *bitaiknijan✻
- inherited from betācnian
- inherited from bitoknen
Definitions
To signify by some visible object
To signify by some visible object; show by signs or tokens.
- There be other 2 signes in often use of which the first is made thus + and betokeneth more : the other is thus made – and betokeneth lesse.
- During the fight, we ran forward a few paces, but a heavy, rushing flight betokened an easy victory, and the stranger flew away.
- Here, too, there is a marked change in the character of the country, for Tondu lies at the foot of the imposing mass of the central group of Glamorgan mountains, betokening the stiff gradients that lie ahead.
To foreshow by present signs
To foreshow by present signs; indicate something future by that which is seen or known.
- “ Ah ! hospitable land, thou (nevertheless) betokenest war,” i. e., although hospitable, thou nevertheless betokenest war. — Bello.
The neighborhood
- neighbormore betoken
Derived
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for betoken. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA