Betine

verb

verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To hedge about; enclose; shut up. obsolete, transitive

    "This year began Ida to reign, from whom arose the royal race of Northumbria; and he reigned twelve years and 'getimbered' Bebbanburh, which at first was 'betined' with a wall."

  2. 2
    To set fire to. obsolete, transitive

Synonyms

All synonyms
behedgebehedge

Example

More examples

"This year began Ida to reign, from whom arose the royal race of Northumbria; and he reigned twelve years and 'getimbered' Bebbanburh, which at first was 'betined' with a wall."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English betinen, betynen, bitunen, bituinen, from Old English betȳnan (“to hedge in, enclose, shut, bury; shut out; conclude, end”), from Proto-West Germanic *bitūnijan (“to inclose, hedge about”), equivalent to be- + tine. Cognate with Middle Dutch betuinen, Middle Low German betü̂nen, Middle High German beziunen (German bezäunen (“to fence in, surround, border”)).

Etymology 2

From be- + tine, variation of tind (“to set fire to”). More at tind.

Related phrases

set fireshut up

More for "betine"

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