See Also:

become (iou)



become verb. ; pa. pple become.
[Old English becuman = Old Frisian bicuma, Middle Low German, Middle & mod. Dutch bekomen, Old High German biqueman (German bekommen) obtain, receive, Gothic biqiman, from Germanic: see BE-, COME verb.]
I. Come .
verb intrans. Come to a place, arrive; travel, go. OE-M18.
Bacon Houses so full of Glasse, that one cannot tell, where to become, to be out of the Sunne.
verb intrans.
a. Come in the course of time (to be or do). OE-E19.
Sydney Smith It becomes to be loved on its own account.
b. Foll. by of: come from, originate from. ME-E17.
verb intrans. with dat. or to, later verb trans. Happen, befall. OE-M17.
As copula with noun or adjective compl. or verb intrans. with (in)to. Come to be, begin to be. ME.
Evelyn The Church of God, being now become, from a private family..to a great and numerous nation. Ld Macaulay When first they became known to the Tyrian mariners. E. M. Forster Their pleasantry and their piety show cracks, their wit becomes cynicism, their unselfishness hypocrisy. S. Bellow Depressives tended to form frantic dependencies and to become hysterical when cut off. R. K. Narayan After college, the question was whether I should become a dancer or do something else. C. Milne You can keep tadpoles until they become frogs or toads.
verb trans. Foll. by of: (formerly) result from; (now) happen to, befall. Only with what as subj. M16.
Shakespeare Twelfth Night What will become of this?..My state is desperate. J. Conrad I haven't seen him for a week. What has become of him?
verb intrans. Come into being. rare. L16.
II. Befit.
verb trans. (orig. with dat. obj.). Accord with, be appropriate to, befit. Also impers. in (it) becomes etc. ME.
Disraeli He had that public spirit which became his station. Sir W. Scott I thought it became me to make public how far I was concerned.
verb intrans. impers. in it becomes, be appropriate or fitting (to, for, that). (Replaced by is becoming.) ME-L16.
verb trans. Of a property, attribute, quality, etc.: suit, look well on or with, (its owner or subject). ME.
Shakespeare Macbeth Nothing in his life Became him, like the leaving it. J. K. Jerome This hat fits me sufficiently well, but..do you consider that it becomes me?
Of a person: grace (a place, position, etc.); look well in (a dress etc.). arch. L16.
Steele A graceful man..who became the dignity of his function. A. Helps She with her dark hair did most become that yellow gown.
becomed ppl adjective (rare, Shakes.) befitting: only in L16.
becomely adjective fitting ME-L15.