| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| beckon |
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| SYLLABICATION: | beck·on |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  b k  n |
| VERB: | Inflected forms: beck·oned, beck·on·ing, beck·ons
| | TRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. To signal or summon, as by nodding or waving. 2. To attract because of an inviting or enticing appearance: “a lovely, sunny country that seemed to beckon them on to the Emerald City” (L. Frank Baum). | | INTRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. To make a signaling or summoning gesture. 2. To be inviting or enticing. | | NOUN: | A gesture of summons. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English bekenen, from Old English b ecnan, b cnan. See bh -1 in Appendix I. | | OTHER FORMS: | beckon·er —NOUN
beckon·ing·ly —ADVERB
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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