adv. and prep. Obs. [OE. be healfe ‘by (the) side,’ a phrase construed with a dative; treated in ME. as an adv. and prep. The ME. ending -en seems due to form-association with words like beforen, betwixen, etc., in which the -en was historical; -es imitated the advb. genitives. Cf. BESIDE, bisiden, BESIDES (perhaps the direct model for bihalven, bihalves).]
A. phrase. By the side, beside.
a. 1000. Metr. Boeth., xxix. 43 (Gr.). Be healfe heofones þisses. Ibid., Byrhtnoth, 152. Him be healfe stód hyse unweaxen cniht. Ibid., 318. Be healfe mínum hláforde.
B. adv. Beside, near, by.
c. 1205. Lay., 571. Þe bi-halues were. Ibid., 8170. Enne hendlicne mon Þe þer stod bi-haluen.
c. 1305. St. Katherine, in E. E. P. (1862), 90. Heo stod bihalues and bihuld.
C. prep. Beside, close to, by.
c. 1205. Lay., 8436. Enne gume … him bihalfues. Ibid., 9313. Bihælues þan fihte.
