Beckon

noun, verb

noun, verb ·2 syllables ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A sign made without words; a beck.

    "At the first beckon."

  2. 2
    A children's game similar to hide and seek in which children who have been "caught" may escape if they see another hider beckon to them.
Verb
  1. 1
    To wave or nod to somebody with the intention to make the person come closer. ambitransitive

    "His distant friends, he beckons near."

  2. 2
    signal with the hands or nod wordnet
  3. 3
    To seem attractive and inviting. ambitransitive

    "How the gentle wind / Beckons through the leaves / As autumn colors fall"

  4. 4
    summon with a wave, nod, or some other gesture wordnet
  5. 5
    appear inviting wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
allureappealattractbe attractivebearingbeck

Example

More examples

"It was surprising to see the stranger beckon me over."

Etymology

From Middle English bekenen, beknen, becnen, beknien, from Old English bēacnian, bēcnian, bīecnan (“to signal; beckon”), from Proto-West Germanic *bauknōn, *bauknijan (“to signal”), from *baukn (“signal; beacon”). Cognate with Old Saxon bōknian, Old High German bouhnen, Old Norse bákna. More at beacon.

Related phrases

hide and seek

More for "beckon"

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.