Be*speak" (?), v. t. [imp. Bespoke (?), Bespake (Archaic); p. p. Bespoke, Bespoken (); p. pr. & vb. n. Bespeaking.] [OE. bispeken, AS. besprecan, to speak to, accuse; pref. be- + sprecan to speak. See Speak.]
1.
To speak or arrange for beforehand; to order or engage against a future time; as, to bespeak goods, a right, or a favor.
Concluding, naturally, that to gratify his avarice was to bespeak his favor.
Sir W. Scott.
2.
To show beforehand; to foretell; to indicate.
[They] bespoke dangers . . . in order to scare the allies.
Swift.
3.
To betoken; to show; to indicate by external marks or appearances.
When the abbot of St. Martin was born, he had so little the figure of a man that it bespoke him rather a monster.
Locke.
4.
To speak to; to address.
[Poetic]
He thus the queen bespoke.
Dryden.
© Webster 1913.
Be*speak", v. i.
To speak.
[Obs.]
Milton.
© Webster 1913.
Be*speak", n.
A bespeaking. Among actors, a benefit (when a particular play is bespoken.)
"The night of her
bespeak."
Dickens.
© Webster 1913.