Library / English Dictionary

BECKON

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Signal with the hands or nod

Example:

He waved his hand hospitably

Synonyms:

beckon; wave

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "beckon" is one way to...):

gesticulate; gesture; motion (show, express or direct through movement)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s to somebody

Sense 2

Meaning:

Summon with a wave, nod, or some other gesture

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "beckon" is one way to...):

summon (ask to come)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Sense 3

Meaning:

Appear inviting

Example:

The shop window decorations beckoned

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Hypernyms (to "beckon" is one way to...):

appeal; attract (be attractive to)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Credits

 Context examples: 

Then he said: “Ha, ha, that is certainly my little cousin, who died only a few days ago,” and he beckoned with his finger, and cried: “Come, little cousin, come.”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

So peremptorily did these shades beckon him, that each day mankind and the claims of mankind slipped farther from him.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

He passed on and ascended the stairs, still holding my hand, and still beckoning the gentlemen to follow him, which they did.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

It beckoned, gliding noiselessly before him down a corridor as dark and cold as any tomb.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Looking up, we could see them waving their arms from the rocks above and beckoning to us to join them in their refuge.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I went on one side about two hundred yards, and beckoning to her not to look or to follow me, I hid myself between two leaves of sorrel, and there discharged the necessities of nature.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Behind them was the dark forest they had passed safely through, although they had suffered many discouragements; but before them was a lovely, sunny country that seemed to beckon them on to the Emerald City.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

Again Wolf Larsen laughed, at the same time beckoning them with his arm to follow.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

He beckoned me to the window.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Entering at the open door of one of these, and releasing my arm, she beckoned me to follow her up the common staircase, which was like a tributary channel to the street.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)