Dictionary entry

Become

Webster's Dictionary 1913

Be‐come″ (�), v. i. [imp.Became (�); p. p.Become; p. pr. & vb. n.Becoming.] [OE. bicumen, becumen, AS. becuman to come to, to happen; akin to D. bekomen, OHG.a piquëman, Goth. biquiman to come upon, G. bekommen to get, suit. See Be-, and Come.] 1. To pass from one state to another; to enter into some state or condition, by a change from another state, or by assuming or receiving new properties or qualities, additional matter, or a new character.

The Lord God... breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Gen. ii. 7.

That error now which is become my crime.

Milton.

2. To come; to get.

But, madam, where is Warwick then become!

Shak.

To become of, to be the present state or place of; to be the fate of; to be the end of; to be the final or subsequent condition of.

What is then become of so huge a multitude?

Sir W. Raleigh.