biedēt

From Proto-Baltic *beyd-, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd-, the e grade of *bʰey-, *bʰī- “to hit, to pierce” (from whose o grade *bʰoy- the etymologically parallel form baidīt was created; q.v.).

Cognates include Gothic 𐌱𐌴𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (beitan) “to bite” (< “to split” < “to hit”), Icelandic bīta, German beissen, English bite.^[1]

biedēt (transitive, 2nd conjugation, present biedēju, biedē, biedē, past biedēju)

1. to scare, to frighten (to cause, to inspire fear)

   biedējoša tumsa ― frightening darkness

   tumsa biedēja bērnus ― the darkness frightened the children

   šāvieni biedē putnus ― the shots scare the birds

   biedēt bērnu ar bubuli ― to figthen the child with the boogeyman

   puišeļu kņada, pūļa smiekli un klaigāšana biedēja zirgus, tie zviegdami kāpās atpakaļ un slējās pakaļkājās ― the children's uproar, laughter and shouting frightened the horses, who went back, neighing and standing on their hind legs

2. to warn, usually in a threatening, menacing way

   biedēt ar izrēķināšanos ― to threaten with revenge

   vēlāk visus memoranda parakstītājus biedēja ar represijām ― later all signatories of the memorandum were threatened with repression

prefixed verbs:

other derived terms:

• biedēklis
• biedināt