Become
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: /bɪˈkʌm/, /bəˈkʌm/Northern England IPA: /bɪˈkʊm/, /bəˈkʊm/
- US IPA: /bəˈkʌm/, /biˈkʌm/
- Rhymes: -ÊŒm
- Hyphenation: be + come
Origin
From Middle English becomen, bicumen, from Old English becuman ("to come, approach, arrive, enter, meet with, fall in with; happen, befall; befit"), from Proto-Germanic *bikwemanÄ… ("to come around, come about, come across, come by"), equivalent to -("about, around") + come. Cognate with Scots becum ("to come, arrive, reach a destination"), North Frisian bekommen, bykommen ("to come by, obtain, receive"), West Frisian bikomme ("to come by, obtain, receive"), Dutch bekomen ("to come by, obtain, receive"), German bekommen ("to get, receive, obtain"), Swedish bekomma ("to receive, concern"), Gothic (bikwiman, "to come upon one, befall"). Sense of "befit, suit" due to influence from Middle English cweme, icweme, see queem.
Full definition of become
Verb
- (intransitive, obsolete) To arrive, come (to a place). 9th-18th c.
- 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur, Book VII:And than Sir Launcelot departed suddeynly, and no creature wyst where he was becom but Sir Bors.
- William Shakespeare (1564-1616)But, madam, where is Warwick then become?
- (copulative) To come about; happen; come into being; arise; begin to be; turn into. from 12th c.what became of him after he was let go?; she became a doctor when she was 25; the weather will become cold after the sun goes down
- 1898, Winston Churchill, The Celebrity Chapter 8, The humor of my proposition appealed more strongly to Miss Trevor than I had looked for, and from that time forward she became her old self again; for, even after she had conquered her love for the Celebrity, the mortification of having been jilted by him remained.
- 2012, May 13, Alistair Magowan, Sunderland 0-1 Man Utd, Then, as the Sunderland fans' cheers bellowed around the stadium, United's title bid was over when it became apparent City had pinched a last-gasp winner to seal their first title in 44 years.
- 2013, William E. Conner, An Acoustic Arms Race, Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible†to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close (less than half a meter) above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them.
- (transitive) To be proper for; to befit. from 13th c.
- 1930, Duff Cooper, Talleyrand, Folio Society 2010, p. 7:His ordination … enabled him to be independent of his parents, and to afford a manner of living which became his rank rather than his calling.
- (transitive) Of an adornment, piece of clothing etc.: to look attractive on (someone). from 14th c.That dress really becomes you.