Behove
[bi'hәuv]
Definition
(v.) and derivatives. See Behoove, &c.
Checker: Muriel
Definition
v.t. to be fit right or necessary for—now only used impersonally with it.—adj. Behove′ful useful: profitable.—adv. Behove′fully (obs.).
Checked by Debbie
Examples
- Above all things, he says, it behoves him to be clear, at a crisis of this importance, 'whether his friends will rally round him. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- The Rubicon, I felt, was passed; and it behoved me well to reflect what I should do on this hither side of disease and danger. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- Not that it behoved or beseemed me to say anything: but one can occasionally _look_ the opinion it is forbidden to embody in words. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- The better I loved her, the more it behoved me never to forget it. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- A Barnacle (assisted by a Barnacle) married the happy pair, and it behoved Lord Decimus Tite Barnacle himself to conduct Mrs Meagles to breakfast. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- The discovery of this Behoving Machine was the discovery of the political perpetual motion. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
Editor: Martin