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hest

[hest]
|

noun Archaic.

behest.

Origin of hest

before 1150; Middle English hest(e), Old English hǣs; akin to hātan to bid
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for hest

Historical Examples of hest

  • Straightway the thanes of Etzel / ready stood her hest to do.

  • For this thing was plain, that the most part of the people was loyal to the King, and minded to follow him and obey Calote's hest.

    Long Will

    Florence Converse

  • And his brothers and his kinsmen duteously his hest obey, With each parting guest and monarch journey on the home ward way.

    Maha-bharata

    Anonymous

  • Engi mar mtti fara upp dalinn me hest er hund, vat at var egar drepit.

    Beowulf

    R. W. Chambers

  • Hest here seems possible; meseems myriad lives still linger here, awaiting some one great summons.

    At Home And Abroad

    Margaret Fuller Ossoli

British Dictionary definitions for hest

hest

noun

an archaic word for behest

Word Origin for hest

Old English hǣs; related to hātan to promise, command
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for hest
n.

"bidding, command," Old English hæs "bidding, behest, command," from Proto-Germanic *hait-ti-, from *haitan "to call, name" (see hight (v.)). With -t added in Middle English on model of other pairings (cf. wist/wesan).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper