bescrawl

English

Etymology

From be- +‎ scrawl.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɔːl

Verb

bescrawl (third-person singular simple present bescrawls, present participle bescrawling, simple past and past participle bescrawled)

1. (archaic, transitive) To cover (something) with scrawls; to scribble over.
   • 1642 (indicated as 1641), John Milton, “That Church-governement is Prescrib’d in the Gospell, and that to Say Otherwise is Unsound”, in The Reason of Church-governement Urg’d against Prelaty […], London: […] E[dward] G[riffin] for Iohn Rothwell, […], →OCLC, 1st book, page 4:

     So far is it from the kenne of theſe wretched projectors of ours that beſcraull their Pamflets every day with new formes of government for our Church.

References

• “bescrawl”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• becrawls