Beath

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. An archaic verb meaning to wash or immerse oneself or something in water, much like bathing
2. Dated term for bathing, in which a person or thing is dipped or soaked in water for cleansing
3. Old-fashioned word describing the act of washing the body by immersion in water or another liquid

Etymology: "Beath" is a Scottish and northern English word meaning to harm or to bathe, and it's a near-twin of "bathe". Both come from the same Old English verb, "beþian" and its relatives, which meant "to heat, warm, foment, wash, cherish." The warming sense comes first: to bathe something was originally to heat it up or soak it in warm liquid, and the sense of washing grew out of that. The Old English family also gave rise to "bath" and "bathe," which took the "wash" meaning in one direction, while "beath" kept a more pared-down, dialect form. Middle Dutch "betten" and "bessen," meaning to moisten with hot water, are cognate, showing the root was shared across the North Sea.