beckon
A sign made without wordsA sign made without words; a beck.
Recorded UK: Speaker: Vealhurl Recorder: Vealhurl, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Meaning
2 sensesA sign made without words; a beck.
A children's game similar to hide and seek in which children who have been "caught" may escape if they see another hider beckon to them.
Origin
From Middle English bekenen, beknen, becnen, beknien, from Old English bēacnian, bēcnian,From Middle English bekenen, beknen, becnen, beknien, from Old English bēacnian, bēcnian, bīecnan (“to signal; beckon”), from Proto-West Germanic *bauknōn, *bauknijan (“to signal”), from *baukn (“signal; beacon”). Cognate with Old Saxon bōknian, Old High German bouhnen, Old Norse bákna. More at beacon.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Dictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.