Verb

(en verb)

Of God: to appear to (someone) to comfort, bless, or chastise or punish them. (Now generally merged into later senses, below.)

* Bible, (w) i. 68

[God] hath visited and redeemed his people.

* 1611 , Bible , Authorized (King James) Version, (w) I.6:

Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that the LORD had visited his people in giving them bread.

To habitually go to (someone in distress, sickness etc.) to comfort them. (Now generally merged into later senses, below.)

(intransitive) To go and meet (a person) as an act of friendliness or sociability.

* 1788 , (Edward Gibbon), (The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire) , volume 68:

Her life was spared by the clemency of the emperor, but he visited the pomp and treasures of her palace.

Of a sickness, misfortune etc.: to afflict (someone).

* 1890 , (James George Frazer), (The Golden Bough) :

There used to be a sharp contest as to where the effigy was to be made, for the people thought that the house from which it was carried forth would not be visited with death that year.

To inflict punishment, vengeance for (an offense) (on) or (upon) someone.

* 2011 , John Mullan, The Guardian , 2 Dec 2011:

If this were an Ibsen play, we would be thinking of the sins of one generation being visited upon another, he said.

To go to (a shrine, temple etc.) for worship. (Now generally merged into later senses, below.)

To go to (a place) for pleasure, on an errand, etc.

* , chapter=19

, title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=Nothing was too small to receive attention, if a supervising eye could suggest improvements likely to conduce to the common welfare. Mr. Gordon Burnage, for instance, personally visited dust-bins and back premises, accompanied by a sort of village bailiff, going his round like a commanding officer doing billets.}}

Verb

To happen.

To happen to.

Temptation befell me.

* Shakespeare

I beseech your grace that I may know / The worst that may befall me.

* {{quote-web, date=2013-04-15

, year= , first= , last= , author=Walter Russell Mead , authorlink= , title=The Wreck of the Euro , site=The American Interest citation , archiveorg= , accessdate=2013-04-16 , passage=As we’ve said before, with the exception of communism itself, the euro has been the biggest economic catastrophe to befall the continent (and the world) since the 1930s. }}