befall
verb
- to happen
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /bɪˈfɔːl/ / /bɪˈfɔl/ / /bɪˈfɑl/
noun
Etymology: From Middle English bifallen, from Old English befeallan, from Proto-West Germanic *bifallan, from Proto-Germanic *bifallaną; equivalent to be- + fall.
- Case; instance; circumstance; event; incident; accident.
“Or he had tolde al his befall.”
“This is proposed to be done by moving necessary amendment in this befall to the Finance Bill.”
verb
Etymology: From Middle English bifallen, from Old English befeallan, from Proto-West Germanic *bifallan, from Proto-Germanic *bifallaną; equivalent to be- + fall.
- To fall upon; fall all over; overtake.
“At dusk an unusual calm befalls the wetlands.”
- To happen.
“It befell in the days of Uther Pendragon [...] that there was a mighty duke in Cornwall that held war against him long time.”
- To happen to.
“Temptation befell me.”
“But as soon as her son espied her, bowl in hand, he thought that haply something untoward had befallen her, but he would not ask of aught until such time as she had set down the bowl, when she acquainted him with that which had occurred[…]”
- To fall.
“With a thought I tooke for Maudline & a cruse of cockle pottage. with a thing thus tall, skie blesse you all: I befell into this dotage.”