behave
Formsbehaves, behaving, behaved
- 1To act in a polite and proper way, as good company and social occasions call for.
Guests are expected to behave with courtesy at formal dinners.
She behaved impeccably throughout the long ceremony.
Oppositemisbehave
Note
The bare verb carries its own verdict: with no adverb and no object, behave means behave well. It belongs to the voice of authority, as in a mother's threat or a teacher's "until you learn to behave", and it works as a one-word command. It is the reflexive "behave yourself" with the pronoun dropped, and it is just as pointed.
- 2To act or conduct oneself in a particular manner, as specified by an accompanying adverb of manner.
Gases behave predictably under constant temperature and pressure.
He behaves aggressively whenever he feels cornered.
Note
Here the verb is neutral and needs company. An adverb or phrase of manner says how the action goes: like a child, erratically, like someone inebriated. Without that phrase, the sentence tips into the "act properly" meaning. The subject need not be a person, since a laptop can behave erratically too. Deport is a stiffer, more formal near-synonym.
- 3To conduct oneself well, or in a specified way; to conform to what is expected.
Visitors are asked to behave themselves inside the temple.
She behaved herself impeccably at her first formal banquet.
Oppositemisbehave
Note
Behind the reflexive pattern lies an old idea of holding. Old English behabban meant "to hold, contain, restrain", and it was built from be- and have, so to behave yourself was first to keep yourself in hand. The Holy Bible of 1611 still adds a manner word, praising those who "behaved themselves manfully". In modern English the bare behave yourself already means behave well.
Less common meaning
- 4To conduct, manage, or regulate something external, such as an estate or affairs.
A good master must behave his household with firmness and fairness.
He did behave his anger ere 'twas spent.
c. 1605, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”Note
An obsolete transitive use that keeps the old sense of restraint closest to the surface, the "hold back" story told at the reflexive "behave yourself". When Shakespeare writes in Timon of Athens "He did behave his anger ere 'twas spent", he means the man governed his anger. Spenser's Faerie Queene (1590) has a man who behaves his mind with cares. Read these lines as manage or restrain, not as manners.
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Origin
From Middle English behaven, bihabben ("to restrain, behave"), from Old English behabban ("to surround, hold, contain, hold back, restrain"), from Proto-West Germanic *bihabbjan, equivalent to be- + have. It is related to German behaben ("to behave").