betide

Woe betide the philistine who requests a salt shaker or asks that a meticulously prepared dish be spice-bombed.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

Woe betide the grounds passholder who shows up at the “wrong” entrance; you may be made to walk several blocks, though several on Monday attempted to argue with U.N. police.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 19, 2022

"Woe betide you if you were a preacher and you misquoted," Lord Sentamu says.

From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2022

Woe betide the civic leader in a company town who threatens to buck the company’s interests.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 4, 2022

Nay, nay, whatever may now betide in war, my line too is ending, even the House of the Stewards has failed.

From "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien

But I have to wonder if, whatever betides, I can stay upbeat in spirit.

From The New Yorker ● Dec. 16, 2019

It fails to mention Ogden Nash's "One rule which woe betides the banker who fails to heed it,/ Which is you must never lend any money to anybody unless they don't need it."

From Time Magazine Archive

Old meerschaum pipe, I'll fondly wipe Thy scarred and blackened form, For thou to me wilt ever be— Whate'er betides the storm— A casket filled with memories Of life's Auroral morn.

From Pipe and Pouch The Smoker's Own Book of Poetry by Various

Not content with making his tombstone a weapon of destruction to us, he pays the Abbey itself an occasional visit, and his appearance always betides some disaster to the family.

From The Lancashire Witches A Romance of Pendle Forest by William Harrison Ainsworth

Nevertheless, on this little earth, perhaps Ill betides the heart that leans overmuch on another.

From Hints for Lovers by T. Arnold (Theodore Arnold) Haultain

So be of good cheer and tell us what hath betided thee from him.

From The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Volume III by John Payne

Now it betided,   Heaven's gate being partly open, that there glided A fair dream forth, and hovered o'er his sleep.

From Poems by Victor Hugo

"O Fakir," answered the other, "verily a matter of marvel hath betided me and I know not how to act therein."

From The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 15 by Sir Richard Francis Burton

And when they had rested and were cheered, Ja'afar said, "Do thou acquaint me with all that betided thee from the time we took leave each of other until this day and date."

From The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 16 by Sir Richard Francis Burton

Hard by the bridge, there was a stone cross upon a knoll, and here the group had collected—half-a-dozen women and one tall fellow in a russet smock—discussing what the bell betided.

From The Black Arrow A Tale of the Two Roses by Robert Louis Stevenson

The death of my son betiding while my soul was under this anxiety, I thought of nothing but resigning my dominions, and retiring for ever from the sight of mankind.

From Shorter Novels, Eighteenth Century The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia; The Castle of Otranto, a Gothic Story; Vathek, an Arabian Tale by William Beckford

O I know the Hand that is guiding me Through the shadow to the light; And I know that all betiding me Is meted out aright.

From Poems with Power to Strengthen the Soul by James Mudge

There was an Ark with scrolls of the Law in the room, betiding a piety and a purse beyond the normal.

From Ghetto Comedies by Israel Zangwill

And hence their quiet looks confiding,        Hence grateful instincts seated deep,      By whose strong bond, were ill betiding,        They'd risk their own his life to keep.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 06, No. 38, December, 1860 by Various

Then spake the Carline: "I must now look along the ways of sleep and see what is betiding."

From The Sundering Flood by May Morris