beclip means to fold in the arms; embrace; clasp. It carries an Arena rating of 1630, earned across 5 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, beclip ranks #377 of 17,142 for Most Ingenious Words, #699 of 17,140 for Most Whimsical Words, #1,169 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #1,248 of 17,130 for Most Beautiful Words.
Why “beclip” is a great word
BECLIP — [Verb] To embrace, encircle, or enclose. From Middle English beclippen, from Old English beclyppan ("to clasp, embrace"), from the prefix be- ("around, thoroughly") + clyppan ("to hold, clasp"), from Proto-Germanic *klumpijaną ("to hold, clench"). Unlike "embrace," which suggests affection, or "enclose," which implies a barrier, "beclip" denotes a thorough clasping, an act of envelopment that is neither tender nor hostile, but simply complete. It is the thick vine encircling the old stone, the dark of a wood closing around a path, or the final, silent fold of earth over a root—an embrace not of affection, but of sheer, encompassing presence.
Etymology
From Middle English beclippen, from Old English beclyppan (“to clip, clasp, embrace, enfold”), from Proto-Germanic *bi- (“be-”) + *klumpijaną (“to hold, clench”), from Proto-Indo-European *glemb-, *glembʰ- (“to hold, clench”), equivalent to be- + clip. Compare also Middle English umbeclippen (“to embrace”). See also umbeclip.
verb
- To fold in the arms; embrace; clasp.e.g.“At the coming of Jupiter many Tears were wept for joy, by Dame Cibel and Vesc. Cibel kist and beclipt oftentimes her Son;” — 1702, Raoul Lefèvre, The Destruction of Troy:
- To wrap around; enclose; encircle; surround.
- To include; comprise; comprehend; contain.
- To lay hold of; seize upon; grip; catch; overtake.
- To curdle (milk).
- To clip around or about (the edges of); crop.e.g.“beclip a photograph”
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.