bestead
1 Americanverb (used with object)
adjective
Etymology
Origin of bestead1
First recorded in 1575–85; be- + stead
Origin of bestead2
1300–50; Middle English bisted, bistad, equivalent to bi be- + sted, variant of stad placed < Old Norse staddr, past participle of stethja to place, derivative of stathr place
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
How little you bestead Or fill the fixéd mind with all your toys!
From The Golden Treasury Selected from the Best Songs and Lyrical Poems in the English Language and arranged with Notes by Various
We are hungry and faint, and will only shoot the deer for food, for we are hard bestead and in great danger.”
From Hero-Myths & Legends of the British Race by M. I. (Maud Isabel) Ebbutt
"But aren't you getting on well?" asked their little sister, sorely bestead to make the conversation pleasant to them.
From Trading by Susan Warner
The Vallombrosan monk, who thus bestead the Viceroy at his need, was, as Varchi records, rewarded by the bishopric of Muro, in the kingdom of Naples, which, adds the historian, "he still holds."
From The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 09 by Rossiter Johnson
Around you call your merry men all To whom you’ve given bread; For refuge we to the Kirk will flee Since we are thus bestead.
From Little Engel a ballad with a series of epigrams from the Persian by George Henry Borrow
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
