befal

befal (third-person singular simple present befals, present participle befaling, simple past befel, past participle befalen)

1. Obsolete form of befall.
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling:

     Another misfortune which befel poor Sophia was the company of Lord Fellamar, whom she met at the opera, and who attended her to the drum.

   • 1811, [Jane Austen], chapter IV, in Sense and Sensibility […], volume III, London: […] C[harles] Roworth, […], and published by T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 84:

     […] they parted, with a very earnest assurance on her side of her unceasing good wishes for his happiness in every change of situation that might befal him; […]

   • 1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, “The Beginning of a Long Journey”, in The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC, page 334:

     He promised to communicate with me, when anything befel him; and he slung his bag about him, took his hat and stick, and bade us both “Good bye!”

   • 1861, Elizabeth Gaskell, The Grey Woman:

     I only hoped that whatever was to befal me might soon be over, for the tension of nerve was growing more than I could bear.

• fable