behave

From Middle English behaven, bihabben (“to restrain, behave”), from Old English behabban (“to surround, embrace, hold, contain, hold back, withhold, restrain”), from Proto-West Germanic *bihabbjan, equivalent to be- +‎ have. Cognate with Middle Low German behebben, behāven (“to receive, acquire, reach, keep”), Low German behebben (“to act, behave”), German behaben (“to behave”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /bɪˈheɪv/, /biːˈheɪv/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /bɪˈheɪv/, /bi-/, /bə-/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪv

behave (third-person singular simple present behaves, present participle behaving, simple past and past participle behaved)

1. (reflexive) To conduct (oneself) well, or in a given way; to conform.

   You need to behave yourself, young lady.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Maccabees 2:21:

     And the manifest signs that came from heaven unto those that behaved themselves manfully to their honour for Judaism […]

2. (intransitive) To act, conduct oneself in a specific manner; used with an adverbial of manner.

   He behaves like a child whenever she's around.

   How did the students behave while I was gone?

   My laptop has been behaving erratically ever since you borrowed it.

   • 2014 April 21, “Subtle effects”, in The Economist, volume 411, number 8884:

     Manganism has been known about since the 19th century, when miners exposed to ores containing manganese, a silvery metal, began to totter, slur their speech and behave like someone inebriated.

3. (obsolete, transitive) To conduct, manage, regulate (something).
   • c. 1605–1608, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene v], page 88:

     He did behave his anger ere 'twas spent.

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, book 2, canto 3, verse 40:

     But who his limbs with labours, and his mind / Behaues with cares, cannot so easie mis.

4. (intransitive) To act in a polite or proper way.

   His mother threatened to spank him if he didn't behave.

   • 2009, Roger L. Van Ommeren, From Rebellion to Submission, page 48:

     One time when Willie was more set on clowning than on learning about Jesus, Miss Helen ordered, "Willie Mack, you stand up against the wall until you learn to behave."

• behavior, behaviour
• behavioral, behavioural
• behaviorist, behaviourist
• behaviorism, behaviourism

• “behave”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “behave”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.