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betide

Archaic Terms
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

To happen or come to pass, especially regarding someone's fate; most commonly found in the warning phrase "woe betide" meaning "woe will come to."

Detailed Definition
“Betide” frames events as fate-laden, common in curses or blessings (“woe betide thee”). It implies inevitability, linking action to consequence in moral universe. Found in ballads and biblical verse, it reinforces poetic justice. Its archaic flavor suits prophetic or cautionary tones, where the speaker warns of unavoidable outcomes shaped by virtue or vice.
Example
Example in poetry:
"What may betide, I’ll face with courage," vows the tragic hero; In Shakespeare’s Macbeth: "If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, / Without my stir"—yet later, "woe betide" the guilty; "Woe betide the house where love is lost," warns a proverbial lyric; Milton writes: "Ill betide the hand that shed this blood"; "Let what will betide, I follow truth," declares the pilgrim-poet; Betide what may, the stars keep their course.
Additional Notes
“Betide” is impersonal and often used in warnings (“woe betide you”) or fate-driven narratives; it lacks a true subject, emphasizing inevitability, and appears frequently in ballads and prophetic verse to underscore cosmic justice or doom.
Also Known As
happen occur come to pass
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