/behove-meaning

/behove-meaning-etymology

-) Verb.

-) Variant: behoove 

-) Pronunciation and accent: bɪhuːv, or bɪhəʊv.

-) Etymology: from Old English behofian “to need”, derived of behof “behoof”. Literally: ‘to be of behoof or use.’

-) Third-person singular simple present: she/he behoves (behooves). 

-) Preterite tense, preterite participle: behoved (behooved).

-) Present participle: behoving (behooving).

-) It is dated from 800.

-) Transitive: -) 1. To be in want of; to have need of (something)

-) This meaning is obsolete.

-) 2. (The subject: a clause; and the object, a person or another animal) to be on behoof of (someone); to be for the behoof of; to be advantageous, or profitable for (some one). Hence: to be necessary or advisable, as being profitable.

-) The impersonal pronoun “it” is used as a anticipatory subject of the clause, and pursuantly to this practice, the construction becomes quasi-impersonal.

-) Translation: il faut (faire quelque chose), car il est profitable, in French; yo tengo (tú tienes, ella tiene, etc.) que hacer cierta cosa, porque es provechosa, in Spanish; io ho (tu hai, etc.) da fare (qualcosa), per essere utile, in Italian.

… the harshness, and selfishness of my nature, my vanity, […] my pride and ambition, were for a time concealed from him whom it most behooved to know them.

M. Sherwood… The lady of the manor… 1825

These may be deemed the chief principles of the art of painting, which it behoves the student indispensably to acquire not only the knowledge but likewise the practice of.

Dictionary of the fine arts… 1826

Our debts, I grant, are very great, and therefore it the more behoves you, as a young man of principle and honour, to pay them off as speedily as possible.

Dickens… Barnaby Rudge… 1841

It was a circumstance […] unusual in such a place and hour; and, in our situation, it behoved us to proceed with some timidity.

R. Stevenson… The Master… 1889

I tell thee, lady, it behooves me much to know this secret.

W. Simms… Southward Ho… 1899

In places, the slope was almost precipitous, and it behooved him to be careful of the horses, which could not be replaced.

Bindloss… Winston of the Prairie… 1907

… as Endicott glanced right and left along the front, he discovered a personage at some little distance with whom it behooved him to hold a parley.

Hawthorne… Tales… 1921

-) The subject: a clause introduced by the conjunction “that”:

… it behoveth us that we arm ourselves, and demand of the Infantes what they have done with our ladies.

R. Southey… Chronicle of the Cid… 1809

-) The personal object is omitted:

… it behoves that ye should know whence he came, and from what men he was descended, because we have to proceed with his history.

R. Southey… Chronicle of the Cid… 1883

-) 3. Used only in Scotland: (the subject: somebody) to be in duty (to do something reputed as useful).

So that I behooved to come by some clothes of my own, and in the meanwhile to walk by the porter’s side, and put my hand on his arm as though we were a pair of friends.

R. Stevenson… Catriona… 1893

-) English words derived from “behoof”: unbehoving, behoveful, behooveful, behoving.