An archaic or obsolete verb meaning to spit upon or cover with saliva.
From 'be-' prefix plus Old English 'spætan,' meaning to spit. This word has largely disappeared from English but represents an old formation pattern where 'be-' intensified verbs related to bodily functions.
Many 'be-' verbs related to disgusting actions have dropped out of English—we've mostly kept the pleasant ones like 'befriend' and lost the unpleasant ones like 'bespate,' showing how languages naturally shed words for behaviors we'd rather not emphasize.
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