Becalms

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To bring about a state of tranquility by removing disturbances To cause an atmosphere to be free from chaos or noise To create calmness by mitigating agitation or stress
2. To cause a condition of peacefulness or stillness, often by stopping movement or noise
3. To bring about a quiet or motionless state, particularly by removing agitation or turbulence

Etymology: "Becalm" is a simple formation: the prefix "be-", which in English usually means "thoroughly" or "make into" when attached to a verb or noun, joined to "calm". The prefix descends from Old English "be-", ultimately from a very old Germanic root shared with words such as "by" and "about", so its presence here is a matter of word-building rather than borrowing. "Calm" is the more interesting half. It came into English from Old French "calme", which itself passed down from Latin "cauma", meaning "heat of the day" or "midday rest", and that word was borrowed from Greek "kauma", "burning heat". The original sense was thus about heat rather than stillness, and the link to quiet came from the idea of the midday pause, when work stopped and the world went still. Because "calm" was already well established in English, "becalm" needed no special coining. Its most vivid use is nautical: a sailing ship is becalmed when the wind dies and it lies motionless on the water, which is where the modern sense of stopping movement or noise comes from.

Synonyms: calm, quiet, still, soothe, tranquilize

Antonyms: agitate, disturb, excite, stir, upset