English edit

Etymology 1 edit

From Middle English beclippen, from Old English beclyppan (to clip, clasp, embrace, enfold), from Proto-Germanic *bi- (be-) + *klumpijaną (to hold, clench), from Proto-Indo-European *glemb-, *glembʰ- (to hold, clench), equivalent to be- +‎ clip. Compare also Middle English umbeclippen (to embrace). See also umbeclip.

Verb edit

beclip (third-person singular simple present beclips, present participle beclipping, simple past and past participle beclipped)

  1. (transitive, obsolete) To fold in the arms; embrace; clasp.
    • 1702, Raoul Lefèvre, The Destruction of Troy:
      At the coming of Jupiter many Tears were wept for joy, by Dame Cibel and Vesc. Cibel kist and beclipt oftentimes her Son;
    • 1900, Jacobus (de Voragine) William Caxton, Frederick Startridge Ellis, The Golden Legend: Or, Lives of the Saints - Volume 4, page 15:
      Which thing was told to the king by the same Hulin, and anon the king had pity on the poor man, and disdained not, but took him on his shoulders and bare him, whom the cripple beclipped with his foul and scabby hands and arms, and so, n the bearing, his sinews loosed and were reached out.
    • 1927, David Knowles, The English Mystics, page 71:
      After the kiss in the Mass, when the priest consecrates, there forget all the world and there be altogether out of the body; there in sparkling love beclip our beloved that into our breast's bower is alighted out of heaven, and hold him fast till he hath granted all that ever you will.
  2. (transitive) To wrap around; enclose; encircle; surround.
  3. (transitive, obsolete) To include; comprise; comprehend; contain.
  4. (transitive, obsolete) To lay hold of; seize upon; grip; catch; overtake.
  5. (transitive, obsolete) To curdle (milk).
Derived terms edit

Etymology 2 edit

From be- +‎ clip.

Verb edit

beclip (third-person singular simple present beclips, present participle beclipping, simple past and past participle beclipped)

  1. (transitive) To clip around or about (the edges of); crop.
    beclip a photograph