Be*speak" (&?;), v. t.
[imp. Bespoke (&?;), Bespake (Archaic);
p. p. Bespoke, Bespoken (&?;); p.
pr. & vb. n. Bespeaking.] [OE. bispeken, AS.
besprecan, to speak to, accuse; pref. be- + sprecan to
speak. See Speak.] 1. To speak or arrange for
beforehand; to order or engage against a future time; as, to bespeak
goods, a right, or a favor.
Concluding, naturally, that to gratify his avarice was to
bespeak his favor.
Sir W. Scott.
2. To show beforehand; to foretell; to
indicate.
[They] bespoke dangers . . . in order to scare the
allies.
Swift.
3. To betoken; to show; to indicate by external
marks or appearances.
When the abbot of St. Martin was born, he had so little the
figure of a man that it bespoke him rather a monster.
Locke.
4. To speak to; to address. [Poetic]
He thus the queen bespoke.
Dryden.
Be*speak", v. i. To speak. [Obs.]
Milton.
Be*speak", n. A bespeaking. Among
actors, a benefit (when a particular play is bespoken.) "The night of
her bespeak." Dickens.
