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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

be·sought

Audio Help [bi-sawt] Pronunciation Key

–verb

a pt. and pp. of beseech.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Besought

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

be·seech

Audio Help [bi-seech] Pronunciation Key verb, -sought or -seeched, -seech·ing.

–verb (used with object)

1.	to implore urgently: They besought him to go at once.

2.	to beg eagerly for; solicit.

–verb (used without object)

3.	to make urgent appeal: Earnestly did I beseech, but to no avail.

[Origin: bef. 1100; ME bisechen, OE besécan. See be-, seek

]

—Related forms

be·seech·er, noun

be·seech·ing·ly, adverb

be·seech·ing·ness, noun

—Synonyms 1. pray, petition, supplicate, adjure. 1, 2. entreat, importune.

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

be·seech Audio Help (bĭ-sēch') Pronunciation Key
tr.v. be·sought (-sôt') or be·seeched, be·seech·ing, be·seech·es

To address an earnest or urgent request to; implore: beseech them for help.
To request earnestly; beg for: beseech help. See Synonyms at beg.

[Middle English bisechen, from Old English besēcan : be-, be- + sēcan, to seek; see seek.]

be·seech'er n.

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be·sought Audio Help (bĭ-sôt') Pronunciation Key
v. A past tense and a past participle of beseech.

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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Besought

Be*seech"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Besought; p. pr. & vb. n. Beseeching.] [OE. bisechen, biseken (akin to G. besuchen to visit); pref. be- + sechen, seken, to seek. See Seek.]

1. To ask or entreat with urgency; to supplicate; to implore.

I beseech you, punish me not with your hard thoughts. --Shak.

But Eve . . . besought his peace. --Milton.

Syn: To beg; to crave.

Usage: To Beseech, Entreat, Solicit, Implore, Supplicate. These words agree in marking that sense of want which leads men to beg some favor. To solicit is to make a request, with some degree of earnestness and repetition, of one whom we address as a superior. To entreat implies greater urgency, usually enforced by adducing reasons or arguments. To beseech is still stronger, and belongs rather to the language of poetry and imagination. To implore denotes increased fervor of entreaty, as addressed either to equals or superiors. To supplicate expresses the extreme of entreaty, and usually implies a state of deep humiliation. Thus, a captive supplicates a conqueror to spare his life. Men solicit by virtue of their interest with another; they entreat in the use of reasoning and strong representations; they beseech with importunate earnestness; they implore from a sense of overwhelming distress; they supplicate with a feeling of the most absolute inferiority and dependence.

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