behoof
pronunciation
How to pronounce behoof in British English:
UK [bɪ'hu:f]
How to pronounce behoof in American English:
US [bɪ'huf]
Word Origin
- behoof (n.)
- c. 1200, "use, benefit, advantage;" Old English had bihoflic "useful," implying *bihof "advantage, utility;" from Proto-Germanic *bi-hof "that which binds, requirement, obligation" (cognates: Old Frisian bihof "advantage," Dutch behoef, Middle High German bihuof "useful thing," German Behuf "benefit, use, advantage"). In the common Germanic compound, the first element, likely intensive, is cognate with be- and the second with Old English hof, past tense of hebban "to raise" (see heave (v.)). The original sense is perhaps, then, "taking up (for oneself)."
Example
- 1. Mr smith toiled for this children 's behoof .
- 2. Men call me wise . If sages were ever wise in their own behoof , I might have foreseen all this .
- 3. The specific character however is expected to be a ' mark ' only : that is to say it is to be in behoof only of the purely subjective cognition which is external to the object .
- 4. If your hearer respond , he will have responded to his own behoof , and if not , turn ye away from him , and set your faces towards god 's sacred court , the seat of resplendent holiness .