To treat with mercy; to show compassion or leniency toward someone.
From 'be-' prefix plus 'mercy,' from Latin 'merces' (wages, reward) which evolved to mean compassion. The 'be-' prefix makes it an active verb meaning to bestow or surround with mercy.
Medieval and early modern writers loved verbing nouns with 'be-'—'bemercy' appears in older texts as a direct plea for compassion, more poetic than simply saying 'show me mercy.'
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