Definition of "bestir"

bestir

/bɪˈstɜː/

verb
third-person singular simple present bestirs, present participle bestirring, simple past and past participle bestirred
1. (transitive) To put into brisk or vigorous action; to move with life and vigor.
  Quotations
  Notwithstanding all the various temptations to bad temper, pride, greediness, adultery and so forth, the enemy really has but one temptation, and that is, to bestir the saints.
  1986, Watchman Nee, The Life that Wins, page 75
2. (reflexive) To make active; to rouse oneself.
  Quotations
  Like the knocking at the door in Macbeth, or the cry of the watchman in the Tour de Nesle, they show that the horrible cæsura is over and the nightmares have fled away, because the day is breaking and the ordinary life of men is beginning to bestir itself among the streets.
  c. 1870, Robert Louis Stevenson, Nuits Blanches
  The old man and his wife bestirred themselves to make every thing ready for the unexpected guests, […]
  1872, James De Mille, The Cryptogram‎, published 2009
  When he had bestirred himself, […] it was clear daylight, though the sun had not tipped the yellow wall in the east.
  1912 January, Zane Grey, chapter 9, in Riders of the Purple Sage […], New York, N.Y., London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, page 108
  And so I hope we can bestir ourselves not to “Rally Around Caesar,” as the recent Economist recommends. I hope we will bestir ourselves to rally around an emergency/militant reconstruction of a secular democracy consecrated to the equality of each and every living one of us.
  2009, June Jordan, Some of Us Did Not Die
  Why is it so important to bestir oneself? Bestirring oneself means that one feels truly fortunate and excited to stand before one's Creator and that one longs for this moment.
  2010, Moshe Samsonowitz, Beyond What the Eye Perceives, page 42
  Could these well-paid civil servants bestir themselves not only to rescue the American republic from danger but to strengthen its democratic governance, refresh its ideals, and reclaim its sadly soiled national honor?
  2017 July 9, Garrett Epps, “The Generational Significance of the Travel Ban Cases”, in The Atlantic‎
  We may officially have three branches of government, but Americans seem to accept that it’s more like 2.25: A presidency that acts unilaterally whenever possible, a high court that checks the White House and settles culture wars, and a Congress that occasionally bestirs itself to pass a budget.
  2020 June 20, Ross Douthat, “The Tempting of Neil Gorsuch”, in The New York Times‎