begaum

begaum v Also sp begom(b) esp sAppalachians, C Atl coast

= gaum v1 1; hence n begauming a smear.

1853 Wilmington Jrl. (NC) 24 June [4]/4 cAL, I have seen their hankerchers look jest like an old newspaper after layin’ on a grog shop floor for a month, all smeared and begaumed from end to end. 1859 Taliaferro Fisher’s R. 172 nwNC, The litigants begaumed her house with tobacco-juice. 1888 Century Illustr. Mag. 36.775 seTN, An’ by the time the boys ’d got ’im hauled out an’ onter ’is feet, an’ the begaumin’s er the mud scraped off . . he ’d ’a’ cooled off a cunsider’ble. 1964 Mt. Life Spring 54 sAppalachians, The prepositional prefix be . . . appears in quaint verbal constructions, little used outside the highlands today: besmeared, begommed [etc]. 1993 Coast Watch Sept/Oct 12 Outer Banks NC, Words like “begaumed,” “benambered,” “wadjit” and “jellywhopper” color coastal speech from Duck to Wilmington. 1994 NC Lang. & Life Project Harkers Is. Vocab. 2 eNC, Begombed. . . To be soiled, usually with a sticky or greasy residue. Ellen begombed her shirt with paint.