What does beshrewed mean?
Beshrewed is the past tense and past participle of beshrew, an archaic English verb meaning to curse or wish evil upon someone or something. Formed from the prefix be- combined with the noun shrew, it entered common usage in the Middle English and Early Modern periods and appears frequently in Elizabethan drama, where characters would beshrew bad luck, unfaithful lovers, or inconvenient circumstances. By Shakespeare's time it had softened into a mild expletive: cries such as 'Beshrew me!' or 'Beshrew your heart!' expressed playful irritation rather than serious malediction, making it a socially acceptable way to vent frustration. Today the word survives almost exclusively in literary and historical contexts, where its quaint sound lends dialogue an authentically antique flavor. Readers encountering it should understand it simply as a colorful, old-fashioned way of saying 'cursed.' It should not be confused with bestrewed, which means scattered about.
Cursed; invoked evil or misfortune upon someone or something.
"The sailors beshrewed the winds that had driven them so far off course."
Archaic; encountered mainly in Renaissance literature.
Used in archaic exclamations such as 'Beshrew me!', expressing mild annoyance or surprise.
"'Beshrew my tongue,' she cried, 'I never meant to speak so harshly.'"
Shakespeare's characters were forever 'beshrewing' things — it was the polite way to swear without actually swearing.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of beshrewed
Beshrewed derives from the verb beshrew, formed in Middle English from the intensive prefix be- plus shrew, the noun for a malicious or ill-natured person. The original sense was thus literally 'to make a shrew of' or 'to call down shrewish mischief upon', which generalized into 'to curse'. The same root gives us shrewd, which originally meant wicked before shifting to mean cunningly astute, and shrewish, describing a nagging temper. The word flourished in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries before falling out of everyday speech.
Related word forms
How beshrewed is actually used
Highly archaic and literary today; found chiefly in Shakespearean and Early Modern English texts. In its exclamatory use ('Beshrew me!'), it functions almost as an interjection expressing mock annoyance. It carries a quaint, old-fashioned flavor rather than genuine malice.
Easily confused with beshrewed
'Bestrewed' means scattered or strewn over a surface, while 'beshrewed' means cursed; the two differ by only one letter but are unrelated in meaning.