What is bid?

Famous quotes containing the word bid:

“It seems that I must bid the Muse to pack,
Choose Plato and Plotinus for a friend
Until imagination, ear and eye,
Can be content with argument and deal
In abstract things; or be derided by
A sort of battered kettle at the heel.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)

“Or bid the soul of Orpheus sing
Such notes as, warbled to the string,
Drew iron tears down Pluto’s cheek,
And made Hell grant what love did seek;”
—John Milton (1608–1674)

“Love, my fate got luckily,
Teaches with no telling
That the phoenix’ bid for heaven and the desire after
Death in the carved nunnery
Both shall fail if I bow not to your blessing....”
—Dylan Thomas (1914–1953)