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steading

[sted-ing]
noun Scot. and North England.
  1. a farm, especially its buildings.
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Origin of steading

1425–75; late Middle English (north and Scots); see stead, -ing1

stead

[sted]
noun
  1. the place of a person or thing as occupied by a successor or substitute: The nephew of the queen came in her stead.
  2. Obsolete. a place or locality.
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verb (used with object)
  1. to be of service, advantage, or avail to.
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Idioms
  1. stand in good stead, to be useful to, especially in a critical situation: Your experience will stand you in good stead.
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Origin of stead

before 900; (noun) Middle English, Old English stede; cognate with German Stätte place; akin to German Stadt, Old Norse stathr, Gothic staths, Greek stásis (see stasis); (v.) Middle English steden, derivative of the noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for steading

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • The country was of old so cursed by war, that a steading in the fields was a lost affair.

    The Book-Hunter

    John Hill Burton

  • After this Cormac went about the steading to look for Steingerd.

  • He will rue it that ever he begot a son who will lose him his acres and his steading.

    Sir Nigel

    Arthur Conan Doyle

  • On t' other side frae our steading were a cove that fowks called Janet's Cove.

  • Her face is wrinkled, and her dim eyes are peering down the track which leads from the steading to the pasture.

British Dictionary definitions for steading

steading

noun British
  1. a farmstead
  2. the outbuildings of a farm
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Word Origin

C15: from stead + -ing 1

stead

noun
  1. (preceded by in) rare the place, function, or position that should be taken by anotherto come in someone's stead
  2. stand someone in good stead to be useful or of good service to (someone)
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verb
  1. (tr) archaic to help or benefit
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Word Origin

Old English stede; related to Old Norse stathr place, Old High German stat place, Latin statiō a standing, statim immediately

Stead

noun
  1. Christina (Ellen). 1902–83, Australian novelist. Her works include Seven Poor Men of Sydney (1934), The Man who Loved Children (1940), and Cotters' England (1966)
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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 steading

stead

n.

Old English stede "place, position, standing, delay," related to standan "to stand," from Proto-Germanic *stadiz (cf. Old Saxon stedi, Old Norse staðr, Swedish stad, Dutch stede "place," Old High German stat, German Stadt "town," Gothic staþs "place"), from PIE *stetis-, from root *sta- "to stand" (see stet). Now chiefly in compounds or phrases. "The sense 'town, city' for G. Stadt is a late development from c.1200 when the term began to replace Burg" [Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names].

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper

Idioms and Phrases with steading

stead

see in someone's shoes (stead); stand in good stead. Also see under instead.

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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.