different between befang vs defang

English

Alternative forms

• befong

Etymology

From Middle English befon (past participle befangen), from Old English bef?n (“to surround, clasp, include, envelop, encase, clothe, comprehend, seize, attack (at law), lay hold of, catch, ensnare, contain, receive, conceive, explain”), equivalent to be- +? fang. Cognate with Dutch bevangen (“to seize”), Middle High German bev?hen (“to comprehend”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [b??fæ?]

Verb

befang (third-person singular simple present befangs, present participle befanging, simple past and past participle befanged)

1. (transitive, Britain dialectal, Yorkshire) To lay hold on; seize; grasp; catch; clutch.

   Come here an' I'll befang thee!

2. (intransitive, obsolete) To take hold on; begin or commence upon.
3. (transitive, obsolete) To encompass; enclose; contain; comprehend.

References

• Wright, Joseph (1898) The English Dialect Dictionary?^[1], volume 1, Oxford: Oxford University Press, page 225
• Philological Society (Great Britain), A new English dictionary on historical principles, Befong.

English

Etymology

de- +? fang

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /di??fæ?(?)/

Verb

defang (third-person singular simple present defangs, present participle defanging, simple past and past participle defanged)

1. (transitive) To remove the fangs from (something).

   The snake was defanged.

2. (figuratively) To render harmless.
   • 2007, "The Roots of Terror", The Week, 14 July 2007, 622, 4.

     The Government's new security supremo, Admiral Sir Alan West, said the danger from home-grown and foreign terrorists was at its greatest level ever, and warned that it could take up to 15 years to defang Islamic radicalism.

Synonyms

• (render harmless): declaw

Anagrams

• fag end, fag-end, fanged