becalm

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to make still or quiet; to leave (a ship) motionless for want of wind

   The fog and dead air becalmed the sloop for two days.

From the intensive prefix be- + calm. Calm came into Middle English from Old French calme, ultimately from Late Latin cauma ('heat of the day, rest'), from Ancient Greek kauma ('heat'), from kaiein ('to burn').

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