bode

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /bəʊd/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /boʊd/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊd
• Homophone: bowed (in one sense)

Verb from Middle English boden, from Old English bodian (“announce, foretell”), from Proto-West Germanic *bodōn, from Proto-Germanic *budōną (“to proclaim, announce, lere, instruct”). See bid.

Noun from Middle English bod, from Old English bod, from Proto-Germanic *budą (“message, offer”).

Since 1740 also a shortening of forebode.

bode (third-person singular simple present bodes, present participle boding, simple past and past participle boded)

1. (ambitransitive) To indicate by signs, as future events; to be an omen of; to portend or foretell.

   Synonyms: portend, presage, foreshow

   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:

     O heaven, O earth, bear witness to this sound,
     And crown what I profess with kind event
     If I speak true; if hollowly invert
     What best is boded me to mischief: I,
     Beyond all limit of what else i' th' world,
     Do love, prize, honour you.

2. (intransitive, followed by "well", "ill", "no good", etc.) To betoken or augur something good or bad that will happen in the future.
   • 1675, John Dryden, Aureng-zebe: A Tragedy. […], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], published 1676, →OCLC, (please specify the page number):

     Whatever now / The omen prove, it boded well to you.

   • 2023 December 27, Ben Jones, “Inside Sellafield... by rail”, in RAIL, number 999, page 25:

     Recent investment by Sellafield and DRS in new wagons and more environmentally friendly traction bodes well for the future of one of the UK's last remaining internal rail networks and for the dedicated team who operate and maintain it.

bode (plural bodes)

1. An omen; a foreshadowing.

From Middle English bod, from Old English bod (“a bidding”), from Proto-West Germanic *bod, from Proto-Germanic *budą (“a bidding, offer”).

Cognate with Swedish bud, Dutch bod, Icelandic boð, Faroese boð, Norwegian Nynorsk bod, Norwegian Bokmål bud. Compare also Old Saxon gibod, German Gebot. See bid.

bode (plural bodes)

1. (obsolete or dialect) A bid; an offer.
   • 1825 June 22, [Walter Scott], Tales of the Crusaders. […], volume (please specify |volume=III or IV), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC:

     What bode ye shall to your lord bear?

From Middle English bode, from Old English boda (“messenger, forerunner”), from Proto-West Germanic *bodō, from Proto-Germanic *budô (“messenger”); related to the verb (etymology 1). Cognate with Dutch bode (“messenger, harbinger”), German Bote (“messenger”).

bode (plural bodes)

1. A herald; a messenger.
   • 1848, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter III, in Harold, the Last of the Saxon Kings; […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, book II (Lanfranc the Scholar), page 138:

     [T]he fame of the Duke's coming was sent abroad by the bodes or messengers, despatched to prepare the towns through which he was to pass for an arrival sooner than expected, […]

From Middle English bod, bode, bade, baide, partially a clipping of Middle English abod (“a stopping”), and partially continuing Old English bād (“a waiting, expectation”), from Proto-West Germanic *baidu, from Proto-Germanic *baidō.

bode (plural bodes)

1. A stop; a halting; delay.

Inflected form of bide.

bode

1. simple past of bide

• Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “bode”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

• bedo, Obed, dobe, Dobe, Debo

Borrowed from English body.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɓó.ɗe/

bóde class 5 (plural mabóde class 6)

1. body of a lorry

• IPA^(key): [ˈbodɛ]
• Rhymes: -odɛ
• Hyphenation: bo‧de

bode

1. vocative singular of bod

• IPA^(key): /ˈboːdə/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: bo‧de
• Rhymes: -oːdə

From Middle Dutch bōde, from Old Dutch bodo, from Proto-Germanic *budô.

bode m or f (plural boden or bodes, diminutive bodetje n)

1. messenger, deliverer

   Synonym: boodschapper

2. servant

   Synonyms: bediende, dienaar, dienstbode, knecht

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

bode

1. (dated or formal) singular past subjunctive of bieden

• M. J. Koenen & J. Endepols, Verklarend Handwoordenboek der Nederlandse Taal (tevens Vreemde-woordentolk), Groningen, Wolters-Noordhoff, 1969 (26th edition) [Dutch dictionary in Dutch]

Unknown. Probably from Paleo-Hispanic.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɔðe̝/

bode m (plural bodes)

1. buck, billy goat

   Synonyms: castrón, godallo

2. goatskin

   Synonym: fol

• bode seixo

• Seoane, Ernesto Xosé González; Granja, María Álvarez de la; Agrelo, Ana Isabel Boullón (2006–2022), “bode”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval [Dictionary of dictionaries of Medieval Galician] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Barreiro, Xavier Varela; Guinovart, Xavier Gómez (2006–2018), “bode”, in Corpus Xelmírez: corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval [Corpus Xelmírez: linguistic corpus of Medieval Galicia] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “bode”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “bode”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “bode”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

bode

1. (intransitive) to stop

• Rina, A. Dj.; Kabba, John Lado B. (2011), “bode”, in Kamus Bahasa Lamboya, Kabupaten Sumba Bakat [Dictionary of Lamboya Language, West Sumba Regency], Waikabubak: Dinas Kebudayaan dan Pariwisata, Kabupaten Sumba Bakat, page 10

From Old Dutch bodo, from Proto-Germanic *budô.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɔːdə/

bōde m

1. messenger
2. servant

• Dutch: bode

• “bode (I)”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E.; Verdam, J. (1885–1929), “bode (I)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page I

From Old English boda.

bode

1. messenger
2. omen
   • c. 1380s, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Parliament of Fowles

     The oule eek, that of dethe the bode bringeth.

     (please add an English translation of this usage example)

• English: bode

bode

1. alternative form of bede

bode

1. past participle of by

• IPA^(key): /ˈbo.de/

bode

1. dative singular of bod

From Middle Low German bāden, from Old Saxon *bathōn, from Proto-West Germanic *baþōn.

bode

1. to bathe, to lave

Unknown. Probably from Paleo-Hispanic. Or, possibly of Germanic origin, borrowed through Spanish bode.^[1]

• Audio (Brazil (Caipira)):

  (file)

• Homophone: body (Brazil, one pronunciation)
• Rhymes: -ɔdi, -ɔdʒi, -ɔdɨ
• Hyphenation: bo‧de

bode m (plural bodes)

1. goat buck, billy goat, ram (a male goat)

   Synonym: cabrão

2. (Brazil, slang, chiefly in the singular) a general feeling of indisposition, sadness, or fatigue

   Synonyms: prostração, abatimento, indisposição, tristeza

   Ele acordou de bode esse domingo.

   He woke up indisposed this Sunday.

   Me deu bode de fazer a lição de casa.

   I don't feel like doing my homework.

   1. (Brazil, slang, chiefly in the singular) the feeling of indisposition, tiredness, or sleepiness resulting from drug consumption

      Coordinate term: larica

   2. (Brazil, slang, by extension, chiefly in the singular) annoyance, grievance with a person or thing

      Synonym: ranço

      Fiquei com bode dessa menina: ela vive me criticando!

      I'm tired of this chick: she always criticizes me!

      • 2024 November 2, neileitte, Twitter‎^[1]:

        Eu tava tão ansioso pra esse na época e peguei bode dela pela transfobia

        I was so excited for this one at the time and then I got sick of her because of her transphobia

3. (slang) a man who wears a goatee
4. (slang, derogatory) a smelly person
5. (slang, derogatory) an ugly person
6. (Brazil, slang) a problem, a difficult situation

   Synonyms: encrenca, problema

7. (Brazil, slang) someone who is lustful; a horny person

   Synonym: tarado

• “bode”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2026, →ISBN
• “bode”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026
• “bode”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “bode”, in Dicionário infopédia da Lingua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2026

bode (Cyrillic spelling боде)

1. third-person singular present of bosti

Inherited from Old Spanish bote, from Medieval Latin buccus, of Germanic origin, see also German Bock.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbode/ [ˈbo.ð̞e]
• Rhymes: -ode
• Syllabification: bo‧de

bode m (plural bodes)

1. goat buck

   Synonym: cabrón

• “bode”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025
• Roberts, Edward A. (2014), A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Spanish Language with Families of Words based on Indo-European Roots, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN

bode

1. dative singular of bod

From ibi +‎ o +‎ dè.

• IPA^(key): /bō.dè/

bodè

1. city gate

   Synonym: ibodè

2. (by extension) a point of entry; entrance

   Synonyms: àbáwọlé, ibodè

• oníbodè (“gatekeeper”)