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Webster 1913 Edition


Behoof

Be-hoof′

,
Noun.
[OE.
to bihove
for the use of, AS.
beh[GREEK]f
advantage, a word implied in
beh[GREEK]flīc
necessary; akin to Sw.
behof
, Dan.
behov
, G.
behuf
, and E.
heave
, the root meaning
to seize
, hence the meanings “to hold, make use of.” See
Heave
,
Verb.
T.
]
Advantage; profit; benefit; interest; use.
No mean recompense it brings
To your
behoof
.
Milton.

Webster 1828 Edition


Behoof

BEHOOF'

,
Noun.
1.
Radically, need, necessity; whence, by an easy analogy, the word came to signify that which supplies want. Hence, in present usage.
2.
That which is advantageous; advantage; profit; benefit.
No mean recompense it brings to your behoof.

Definition 2024


behoof

behoof

English

Noun

behoof (plural behoofs)

  1. (archaic) Advantage or benefit.
    • 1919, Saki, ‘The Penance’, The Toys of Peace, Penguin 2000 (Complete Short Stories), p. 423:
      They had parents in India – that much Octavian had learned in the neighbourhood; the children, beyond grouping themselves garmentwise into sexes, a girl and two boys, carried their life-story no further on his behoof.

Quotations

  • For usage examples of this term, see Citations:behoof.

Related terms

Translations

References

  1. Etymology in the ODS: "jf. ty. Behuf, eng. behoof"