Behave

Definitions: Behave

Behave

Verb

1. Behave in a certain manner; show a certain behavior; conduct or comport oneself; "You should act like an adult"; "Don't behave like a fool"; "What makes her do this way?"; "She played the servant her husband's master".

2. Behave in a certain manner; "She carried herself well"; "he bore himself with dignity"; "They conducted themselves well during these difficult times".

3. Behave well or properly; "The children must learn to behave".

Date "behave" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1050. (references)

Domain	Definitions
Tips from 1870	Usage: Behave. "Now, my children, you must behave while I am gone." The mother intended to ask her children to behave well, but as behave is a neutral word, and may be followed by well or ill, her form of expression permits the children to supply whichever adverb suits them the better. Behave requires a qualifying word to make the meaning clear. Source: Slips of Speech.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Synonyms: Behave

Synonyms: acquit (v), act (v), bear (v), carry (v), comport (v), conduct (v), deport (v), do (v). (additional references)

Antonym: misbehave (v). (additional references)

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Conduct	Bear oneself, behave oneself, comport oneself, demean oneself, carry oneself, conduct oneself, acquit oneself.
Courtesy	Mind one's P's and Q's, behave oneself, be all things to all men, conciliate, speak one fair, take in good part; make the amiable, do the amiable; look as if butter would not melt in one's mouth; mend one's manners.
Fashion	Follow the fashion, conform to the fashion, fall in with the fashion, follow the trend, follow the crowd; Noun: go with the stream; (conform); savoir vivre, savoir faire; keep up appearances, behave oneself.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Domain	Usage
Screenplays	Mama, cars don't behave. They are behaved upon. (Driving Miss Daisy; writing credit: Alfred Uhry) At least a rabbit would behave better than you! (Lilo & Stitch; writing credit: Chris Sanders) It's not your table, behave! This once, you can sit at someone else's station. (As Good As It Gets; writing credit: Mark Andrus) But that's no way to behave in front of a princess. (Shrek; writing credit: Ted Elliott) My Dad told me to tell you that he's on the phone with his dentist, and that I should behave myself and entertain you until he gets back. (The American President; writing credit: Aaron Sorkin)
Lyrics	What could make a boy behave this way? ("Chuck E's in love"; performing artist: Rickie Lee Jones) Jekyll and Hyde the way I behave ("INFATUATION"; performing artist: Rod Stewart) Children behave ("I Think We're Alone Now"; performing artist: Tiffany)
Movie/TV Titles	Behave Yourself (1962) Nursie Behave (1950) Honor and Behave Love (1938) Lady Behave (1937) How to Behave (1936)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Domain	Title
Books	Back in Control: How to Get Your Children to Behave (reference) Can't You Make Them Behave, King George (reference) How to Behave and Why (reference) How to Behave So Your Children Will, Too! (reference) How to Make Your Man Behave in 21 Days or Less Using the Secrets of Professional Dog Trainers (reference) (more book examples)

Theater & Movies	How To Behave So Your Children Will, Too! (reference) (more DVD examples; more video examples)

Music	Behave (reference) (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

High Tech	Austin Powers: Oh, Behave! (reference) (more camera examples; more video game examples; more computer examples; more electronic examples; more software examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Author	Quotation
Abba Eban	History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives.
Aristotle	We should behave to our friends as we would wish our friends to behave to us.
Henry David Thoreau	Behave so the aroma of your actions may enhance the general sweetness of the atmosphere.
May Sarton	One must think like a hero to behave like a merely decent human being.
Tertullian	You can judge the quality of their faith from the way they behave. Discipline is an index to doctrine.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Title	Author	Quote
So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish	Douglas Adams	Grown men, he told himself, in flat contradiction of centuries of accumulated evidence about the way grown men behave, do not behave like this.
Les Miserables	Hugo, Victor	The bourgeois have nothing to do but to behave themselves, I am going to sneeze subversive couplets at them.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Subject	Topic	Quote
Health		Ask your physician or other members of the treatment staff whether therapy may be making your child behave differently and whether any limits should be set on activities. (references)
Economic History	Colombia	The 1991 Constitution provided the judiciary with greater administrative and financial independence from the executive branch, and Colombian courts have tended to behave more independently and unpredictably ever since. (references)
Human Rights	Chile	Although most reports state that the guards generally behave responsibly and do not mistreat prisoners, prisoners have complained to CODEPU about beatings, and the courts have received numerous complaints of mistreatment of prisoners. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Speaker	Phrase(s)
Mary Tyler Moore	I live in a kind of controlled awareness. I wouldn't call it fear, but it's an awareness. I know I have a responsibility to behave in a certain way. I'm able to do that.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Speaker	Term	Phrase(s)
Theodore Roosevelt	1901-1909	We have become a great nation, forced by the fact of its greatness into relations with the other nations of the earth, and we must behave as beseems a people with such responsibilities.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

"Behave" is generally used as a lexical verb (infinitive) -- approximately 72.56% of the time. "Behave" is used about 1,507 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Lexical Verb (infinitive)	72.56%	1,094	6,905
Lexical Verb (base form)	24.85%	375	14,556
Noun (singular)	2.58%	39	55,036
Total	100.00%	1,507	N/A

Expressions using "behave": behave badly ♦ behave coquettishly ♦ behave disgracefully ♦ behave flippantly ♦ behave foolishly ♦ behave insolently ♦ behave mischievously ♦ behave modestly ♦ behave oneself ♦ behave oneself with gallantry ♦ behave poorly ♦ behave rudely ♦ behave toward ♦ behave towards ♦ behave well ♦ behave wisely ♦ behave yourself ♦ behave yourself! ♦ know how to behave ♦ way to behave. Additional references.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "behave"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Afrikaan		gedra hom (conduct, conduct oneself). (various references)

Albanian		veproj (act on, affect, do, do with, proceed, take effect, work), sillem (comport, conduct oneself, demean, deport, deport oneself, do, handle, move about, perform, Potter, quit, walk). (various references)

Arabic		‏تصرف (action, behavior, behaviour, carry, carry on, comport, conduct, conduct oneself, demeanor, demeanour, deport, deport oneself, deportment, disposal, fend, make, make shift, manage, mark out, proceed, rustle up), ‏تأدب (behave yourself), ‏سلك (bear, cable, comport, conduct oneself, corps, deport, deport oneself, get along, pursue, service). (various references)

Bulgarian		постъпвам (act, enter, go on, proceed), държа се прилично, държа се добре. (various references)

Chinese		表现 (Behaved, Behaving, Performance, Presentment). (various references)

Czech		reagovat (answer, freak, react, respond), fungovat (function, functionate, go, operate, perform, run, work), chovat se slušnì, chovat se (comport oneself, conduct oneself), šlapat (leg it, pad, tramp, tread). (various references)

Danish		opføre sig (conduct oneself). (various references)

Dutch		zich gedragen (conduct oneself). (various references)

Esperanto		konduti (conduct oneself). (various references)

Faeroese		bera seg (conduct oneself). (various references)

Farsi		حرکت کردن (Depart, Proceed, Waggle, Whir), سلوک کردن , ادب نگاهداشتن , رفتارکردن (Act, Demean, Handle, Treat), درست رفتارکردن . (various references)

Finnish		käyttäytyä (conduct oneself). (various references)

French		se conduire (be driven). (various references)

German		sich verhalten (acquit oneself, act, comport, conduct, conduct oneself, demean oneself), sich betragen (comport, conduct oneself, to behave), sich benehmen (behave oneself, conduct, conduct oneself, demean, to behave), sich aufführen (act, conduct oneself, go on). (various references)

Greek		συμπεριφέρομαι (comport, conduct oneself, demean). (various references)

Hebrew		ל�"ת� �"�' (comport, comport oneself, conduct oneself, deport oneself, manage). (various references)

Hungarian		viselkedik (comport oneself, conduct oneself, demean, demean oneself, deport oneself, to acquit oneself, to behave, to behave oneself, to comport, to comport oneself, to conduct, to conduct oneself, to demean oneself, to deport oneself, to go on, to queen it). (various references)

Icelandic		hegða sér (conduct oneself). (various references)

Indonesian		berlaku (act (as), happen, in effect, occur), berkelakuan (behaving like, have the character of), menyikapi (attitude), mensikapi. (various references)

Italian		condursi (conduct, conduct oneself), comportarsi (act, carry, comport, conduct, conduct oneself, deport oneself, do, perform). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		立ち振舞う (to behave), 立ち振る舞う (to act, to behave), 筋張る (to become sinewy, to behave formally), �"�える　 (to behave like a spoiled child, to fawn on), �"�える (to behave like a spoiled child, to fawn on), 振舞う (to behave, to conduct oneself, to entertain), 振る舞う (to behave, to conduct oneself, to entertain), 吹かす (to accelerate, to behave as..., to rev up, to smoke). (various references)

Japanese Katakana		たちふるまう (to act, to behave), すじばる (to become sinewy, to behave formally), ふかす (to accelerate, to behave as..., to rev up, to sit up late, to smoke, to steam), ふるまう (to behave, to conduct oneself, to entertain), あまえる (to behave like a spoiled child, to fawn on). (various references)

Korean		행동하십시�". (various references)

Manx		ymmyrkey (appearance, attitude, bear, behaviour, birth, carry, carrying, comportment, conduction, convey, conveyance, endure, gestation, give birth, haulage, supply; conductance, support, sustain, tide, transport, yield), aghtey (act, conduct). (various references)

Norwegian		oppføre seg (conduct oneself). (various references)

Papiamen		komportá (conduct oneself). (various references)

Pig Latin		ehavebay

Polish		zachowywać się. (various references)

Portuguese		trabalhar (cultivate, dig, do, faggot, function, fund, labor, labour, mole, swot, to work, tool, work), proceder (come, conduct oneself, go along with, procedure, proceed, process, take action), funcionar (function, functionate, move, operate, run, work), comportar-se (comport, conduct), agir (act, conduct oneself, flash point, have effect, move, operate, step in, take action, to pick up). (various references)

Romanian		se purta (bear oneself, carry, do, do by, quit, wear), se comporta (bear, carry oneself, comport, comport oneself, demean oneself, deport oneself, do, quit), purta (bear, carry, conduct, have on, prosecute, wear, wield), funcţiona (act, be at work, beat, function, functionate, hit, move, operate, run, work), comporta (involve, require). (various references)

Russian		вести себя (comport, comport oneself, conduct oneself, demean, deport oneself, quit). (various references)

Scottish		giùlain (bear, carry, endure). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		vladati se (comport, comport oneself), postupati (act, treat, use), ponašati se (acquit, comport, conduct oneself, demean, deport oneself), ponašati (do), ophoditi se (patronize). (various references)

Spanish		conducirse (comport oneself, conduct oneself, go off, go on, play), comportarse (act, bear oneself, comport oneself, conduct oneself, deport, deport oneself, go off, go on, handle oneself). (various references)

Swazi		kú-tiphátsa (to behave). (various references)

Swedish		uppföra sig (carry oneself, comport, conduct, conduct oneself, deport oneself), bete sig (conduct oneself), förhålla sig (remain, remaine). (various references)

Thai		ประพฤติตัว. (various references)

Turkish		terbiyesini takınmak (mind one's p's and q's), terbiyeli olmak (have manners), hareket etmek (act, budge, comport oneslf, deport oneself, get under weigh, move, move off, play, pull, pull away from the kerb, start, take off, waggle), görgülü davranmak, davranmak (act, bear oneself, comport oneself, conduct oneself, cut up, demean oneself, deport oneself, do by, do to, proceed, treat, use), çalışmak (aim, aim at, catch, endeavor, endeavour, fire, function, labor, labour, operate, practice, practise, serve, start, start up, struggle, study, try, work). (various references)

Ukranian		чинити (bark, barken, do, perpetrate, proceed), поводитися (act, bear oneself, comport, conduct oneself, handle, treat, walk). (various references)

Welsh		ymddwyn (act), ymarweddu (conduct oneself). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Language	Period	Translations
Sumerian	3100 BCE-2500 BCE	me. (various references)
Old French	900-1400	aveir. (various references)
Middle French	1400-1600	comporter, deporter. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Language	Date	Source	1 Thessalonians Chapter 4, Verse 12
Greek (transliterated)	250 BC	Septuagint	Ina peripathte euschmonwV proV touV exw kai mhdenoV creian echte
Latin	405	Vulgate	Et ut honeste ambuletis ad eos qui foris sunt et nullius aliquid desideretis
Old English	990	West Saxon	Swa þæt eower gedæghwamlic lif mæg winnan þæra unmaga ar and swa þæt ge ne forlæten eow on nænigum menn.
Middle English	1395	Wyclif	For, britheren, we wolen not, that ye vnknowe of men that dien, that ye be not soreuful, as othere that han not hope.
Renaissance English	1526	Tyndale	That ye maye behave youre selves honestly towarde them that are with out and that nothinge be lackynge vnto you.
Jacobean English	1611	King James	That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.
Victorian English	1833	Webster	That ye may walk honestly towards them that are without, and that ye may have need of nothing.
Basic English	1964	Ogden	That you may be respected by those who are outside, and may have need of nothing.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Language	1 Thessalonians Chapter 4, Verse 12
Cebuano	aron kamo mangintakus sa pagtahud gikan sa mga tagagawas, ug dili magpasiro kang bisan kinsa.
Croatian	te tako èasno živite prema onima vani i nikoga ne trebate.
Danish	for at I kunne vandre sømmeligt over for dem, som ere udenfor, og for ikke at trænge til nogen.
Dutch	Opdat gij eerlijk wandelt bij degenen, die buiten zijn, en geen ding van node hebt.
Finnish	että vaelluksessanne olisitte säädylliset ulkopuolella olevia kohtaan ettekä olisi kenenkään avun tarpeessa.
French	en sorte que vous vous conduisiez honnêtement envers ceux du dehors, et que vous n`ayez besoin de personne.
German	auf daß ihr ehrbar wandelt gegen die, die draußen sind, und ihrer keines bedürfet.
Haitian Creole	Konsa, moun ki pa kwè nan Kris la va respekte nou, epi nou menm, nou p'ap rete sou kont pesonn.
Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari	Kalau kalian hidup demikian, kalian tidak bergantung kepada siapapun juga, dan orang-orang yang tidak percaya kepada Kristus, akan menghormati kalian.
Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama	supaya kamu melakukan dirimu dengan senonoh kepada orang luar, dan tiada bergantung kepada orang.
Italian	al fine di condurre una vita decorosa di fronte agli estranei e di non aver bisogno di nessuno.
Latvian	Izturieties godîgi arî pret tiem, kas ârpusç un neiekârojiet nekâ sveða!
Maori	Kia ataahua ai ta koutou haere ki te hunga o waho, kia kaua ai e hapa tetahi mea.
Norwegian	forat I kan omgåes sømmelig med dem som er utenfor, og ikke trenge til nogen.
Portuguese	a fim de que andeis dignamente para com os que estão de fora, e não tenhais necessidade de coisa alguma.
Rumanian	Wi astfel sq vq purtayi cuviincios cu cei de afarq, wi sq n`aveyi trebuinyq de nimeni.
Russian	ЮФП�'Щ ЧЩ � ПУФХ� БМЙ �'МБЗП� ТЙМЙЮОП � ЕТЕ�" ЧОЕЫОЙНЙ Й ОЙ Ч ЮЕН ОЕ ОХЦ�"БМЙУШ.
Shuar	Atum Táasairum tusan Tájarme. Túrakrumninkia atumniasha Chíkich shuar pénker Enentáimturmasartatui.
Spanish	a fin de que os conduzcáis honestamente para con los de afuera y que no tengáis necesidad de nada.
Swahili	Kwa namna hiyo mtajipatia sifa nzuri kutoka kwa wale wasio Wakristo, na hamtakuwa na lazima ya kuwategemea wengine kwa mahitaji yenu.
Swedish	så att I skicken eder höviskt mot dem som stå utanför och icke behöven anlita någons hjälp.
Uma	Ane hewa toe po'ingku-ni, uma-koi mpai' karapi' -rapi' hi doo. Pai' tauna to uma mepangala' hi Pue' Yesus mpobila' -koi.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "behave": behaved, behaver, behavers, behaves. (additional references)
	Words ending with "behave": misbehave. (additional references)
	Words containing "behave": misbehaved, misbehaver, misbehavers, misbehaves. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Behave" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: beave, Bechafen, behafe, behale, behalve, behaue, behav, behaven, behaver, behive, behoven, Bejaze, Belhelvie, Bhajee, Bhavan, biave, biha, Bukavu, Bykhov, Dehaven, Dehlavi, Echave, Kethavy, Lehave, Lehovec. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "behave" (pronounced buhā"v)
5	b u h ā" v	misbehave.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-b-e-e-h-v"
	-1 letter: heave.
	-2 letters: eave, have, hebe.
	-3 letters: ave, bah, bee, eve, hae, vee.
	-4 letters: ab, ae, ah, ba, be, eh, ha, he.
	Words containing the letters "a-b-e-e-h-v"
	+1 letter: behaved, behaver, behaves.
	+2 letters: behalves, behavers.
	+3 letters: misbehave.
	+4 letters: achievable, misbehaved, misbehaver, misbehaves, overbleach.
	+5 letters: harvestable, hereinabove, misbehavers.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.

Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)

42 65 68 61 76 65

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)

American Sign Language (origins from 1620-1817 in Italy and, especially, France) (references)

⁼

Semaphore (1791, in France) (references)

Braille (1829, in France) (references)

Morse Code (1836) (references)

-... . .... .- ...- .

Dancing Men (Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1903) (references)

Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)

01000010 01100101 01101000 01100001 01110110 01100101

HTML Code (1990) (references)

&#66 &#101 &#104 &#97 &#118 &#101

ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)

0042 0065 0068 0061 0076 0065

British Sign Language (Fingerspelling, BSL; 1992, British Deaf Association Dictionary of British Sign Language) (references)

Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)

Expression	Frequency per Day
behave	17
oh behave	7
behave miss	5
behave child difficult helping	4
behave honor love	4
behave dj miss	3
behave child so too will	3
behave child	2
behave plus	2
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Behave

Definitions: Behave

Behave

Verb

Specialty Definitions: Behave

Tips from 1870

Synonyms: Behave

Synonyms within Context: Behave

Conduct

Courtesy

Fashion

Crosswords: Behave

Modern Usage: Behave

Screenplays

Lyrics

Movie/TV Titles

Commercial Usage: Behave

Books

Theater & Movies

Music

High Tech

Familiar Quotations: Behave

Abba Eban

Aristotle

Henry David Thoreau

May Sarton

Tertullian

Use in Literature: Behave

So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish

Douglas Adams

Les Miserables

Hugo, Victor

Non-Fiction Usage: Behave

Health

Economic History

Colombia

Human Rights

Chile

Spoken Usage: Behave

Mary Tyler Moore

Speeches: Behave

Theodore Roosevelt

Usage Frequency: Behave

Expressions: Behave

Frequency of Internet Keywords: Behave

behave

oh behave

behave miss

behave child difficult helping

behave honor love

behave dj miss

behave child so too will

behave child

behave plus

Modern Translations: Behave

Afrikaan

Albanian

Arabic

Bulgarian

Chinese

Czech

Danish

Dutch

Esperanto

Faeroese

Farsi

Finnish

French

German

Greek

Hebrew

Hungarian

Icelandic

Indonesian

Italian

Japanese Kanji

Japanese Katakana

Korean

Manx

Norwegian