behave

== English == === Etymology === 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”). === Pronunciation === (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /bɪˈheɪv/, /biːˈheɪv/ (General American) IPA(key): /bɪˈheɪv/, /bi-/, /bə-/ Rhymes: -eɪv === Verb === behave (third-person singular simple present behaves, present participle behaving, simple past and past participle behaved) (reflexive) To conduct (oneself) well, or in a given way; to conform. (intransitive) To act, conduct oneself in a specific manner; used with an adverbial of manner. Synonyms: deport, tread, acquit (reflexive) (obsolete, transitive) To conduct, manage, regulate (something). (intransitive) To act in a polite or proper way. ==== Conjugation ==== ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Related terms ==== behavior, behaviour behavioral, behavioural behaviorist, behaviourist behaviorism, behaviourism ==== Translations ==== ==== Further reading ==== “behave”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC. William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “behave”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.