bestead

¹ American  

[bih-sted] / bɪˈstɛd /

verb (used with object)

besteaded, besteaded, bestead, besteading

1. to help; assist; serve; avail.

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bestead ² American  

[bih-sted] / bɪˈstɛd /

adjective

1. Archaic. placed or situated, often unfavorably or in difficulty.

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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

Who is now hard bestead, but the lady?

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 57, No. 355, May 1845 by Various

But Joseph and Hyrum were harder bestead than ever I have been; and bolder men to boot.

From From Sea to Sea Letters of Travel by Kipling, Rudyard

And then they all three left Sir Kay, for it was he who was so hard bestead, and turned unto Sir Launcelot.

From Stories of King Arthur and His Knights Retold from Malory's "Morte dArthur" by Cutler, U. Waldo

And for he was far and fremd bestead Yslain he should have be.

From Fifteenth Century Prose and Verse by Various

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 Johnson, Rossiter