Bewreyen

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To make known or divulge something hidden ; to lay bare or uncover what was concealed
2. To reveal a secret or expose someone's wrongdoing ; to strip away concealment and show what lies beneath
3. To disclose or bring to light what was kept secret ; to uncover and display something that was hidden

Etymology: Before it meant "to reveal," the Middle English "bewreyen" meant "to accuse" or "to betray," and its Old English ancestor "bewrēgan" was used for denouncing someone. The sense of giving away a secret came later, so the word began as an act of informing on someone rather than of uncovering something neutrally. The word is built from the prefix "be-," which here intensifies the verb, and "wrēgan," an Old English verb meaning to accuse or denounce. Its close relative "wray" survives mainly in dialect and older writing. Middle English writers used the spelling "bewreien" or "bewreyen," and the modern "bewray" is the form that remains in literary English, where it usually means to show something unintentionally, as when a nervous glance bewrays a guilty conscience.