Obs. Forms: 1 belicʓan, 2–3 biliggen, 5 ? belye. Pa. t. 1 belæʓ, 2–3 bilæi, -lai, 3–5 bi-, by-, be-lay(e. Pa. pple. 1 beleʓen, 3–4 bi-, by-, beleyn, -layn(e, -lay(e, 7 beely’d. [OE. bi-, be-licʓan = OHG. biligan, hilikan, MHG. biligen, Ger. beliegen, f. bi-, BE- about + ligan, in OE. licʓan to LIE.]
1. trans. To lie around, encompass.
a. 1000. Cædmon’s Gen. (Grein), 229. Sio ea Ethiopia land beliʓeð uton.
1430. Lydg., Chron. Troy, III. xxiv. Dimmed with skyes foule … with tempest all be-layne.
1627. May, Lucan, III. (1631), 219. From Pholoe Beely’d with Centaures.
2. spec. To lie with an army round, to beleaguer.
a. 1000. Ælfric, Joshua vii. 9. Hi belicʓaþ us mid fyrde.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 51. Þe king … bilai þe burh ierusalem.
c. 1330. Arth. & Merl., 5378. He was belayn in that cite.
c. 1380. Sir Ferumb., 4483. Now haþ þe A[meral] by-leyn hem þer.
3. To lie with (carnally).
c. 1325. Cour de L., 1119. Hys daughtyr that was bylayn.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., 328. I slew my fader, and syn bylay my moder.
4. intr. To lie near; to pertain or belong to; impers. it is pertinent or proper.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 15. Þe six werkes of þesternesse þe biliȝe to nihte. Ibid., 61. Þe habbeð þo sinnes don þe biliggeð to here shrifte.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (1865), I. 147. Þerto [to Cappadocia] be-lyeþ Cilicia.
a. 1400. Old Usages Winchester, in T. Smith, Eng. Gilds (1870), 350. Also twey coroners by-lyth that ther be in Wynchestre.
1522. World & Child, in Hazl., Dodsl., I. 258. Covet … no good that him be-lith.
