Wiktionary

bestir

English

edit
WOTD – 30 August 2006

Etymology

edit

From Middle English bestyrien, bestirien, from Old English bestyrian (“to heap up, pile up”), equivalent to be- +‎ stir.

Pronunciation

edit

Verb

edit

bestir (third-person singular simple present bestirs, present participle bestirring, simple past and past participle bestirred)

  1. (transitive) To put into brisk or vigorous action; to move with life and vigor.
    • 1986, Watchman Nee, The Life that Wins, page 75:
      Notwithstanding all the various temptations to bad temper, pride, greediness, adultery and so forth, the enemy really has but one temptation, and that is, to bestir the saints.
  2. (reflexive) To make active; to rouse oneself.
    • c. 1870, Robert Louis Stevenson, Nuits Blanches:
      Like the knocking at the door in Macbeth, or the cry of the watchman in the Tour de Nesle, they show that the horrible cæsura is over and the nightmares have fled away, because the day is breaking and the ordinary life of men is beginning to bestir itself among the streets.
    • 1872, James De Mille, The Cryptogram‎[1], published 2009:
      The old man and his wife bestirred themselves to make every thing ready for the unexpected guests, […]
    • 1912 January, Zane Grey, chapter 9, in Riders of the Purple Sage […], New York, N.Y., London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC, page 108:
      When he had bestirred himself, […] it was clear daylight, though the sun had not tipped the yellow wall in the east.
    • 2009, June Jordan, Some of Us Did Not Die:
      And so I hope we can bestir ourselves not to “Rally Around Caesar,” as the recent Economist recommends. I hope we will bestir ourselves to rally around an emergency/militant reconstruction of a secular democracy consecrated to the equality of each and every living one of us.
    • 2010, Moshe Samsonowitz, Beyond What the Eye Perceives, page 42:
      Why is it so important to bestir oneself? Bestirring oneself means that one feels truly fortunate and excited to stand before one's Creator and that one longs for this moment.
    • 2017 July 9, Garrett Epps, “The Generational Significance of the Travel Ban Cases”, in The Atlantic‎[2], →ISSN:
      Could these well-paid civil servants bestir themselves not only to rescue the American republic from danger but to strengthen its democratic governance, refresh its ideals, and reclaim its sadly soiled national honor?
    • 2020 June 20, Ross Douthat, “The Tempting of Neil Gorsuch”, in The New York Times‎[3]:
      We may officially have three branches of government, but Americans seem to accept that it’s more like 2.25: A presidency that acts unilaterally whenever possible, a high court that checks the White House and settles culture wars, and a Congress that occasionally bestirs itself to pass a budget.

Translations

edit
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

References

edit
  • “bestir”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

edit

Aragonese

edit

Verb

edit

bestir

  1. Superseded spelling of vestir.

References

edit

Faroese

edit

Adjective

edit

bestir

  1. (in the plural) best, superlative of góður and væl

Declension

edit
Declension of bestir (a5)
Singular Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative bestur best best
Accusative bestan besta best
Dative bestum bestari bestum
Genitive bests bestar/
bestrar 		bests
Plural Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative bestir bestar best
Accusative bestar bestar best
Dative bestum bestum bestum
Genitive besta/
bestra 		besta/
bestra 		besta/
bestra

Indonesian

edit

Etymology

edit

From Dutch bestuur.

Pronunciation

edit

Noun

edit

bêstir (first-person possessive bestirku, second-person possessive bestirmu, third-person possessive bestirnya)

  1. (colloquial, uncommon) management (the executives of an organisation)
    Synonyms: pengelola, manajemen
edit

Further reading

edit
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=bestir&oldid=82130541"