steading

[sted-ing]

noun Scot. and North England.

a farm, especially its buildings.

Origin of steading

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

stead

[sted]

noun

the place of a person or thing as occupied by a successor or substitute: The nephew of the queen came in her stead.

Obsolete. a place or locality.

verb (used with object)

to be of service, advantage, or avail to.

Idioms

stand in good stead, to be useful to, especially in a critical situation: Your experience will stand you in good stead.

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. 2019

Examples from the Web for steading

Contemporary Examples of steading

To live in a steading somewhere, equipped with a reliable well, vegetable patch, fireplace, maybe a wood-fired Aga.
A World Without Electricity
Justin Green
January 24, 2013

Historical Examples of steading

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.
The Life and Death of Cormac the Skald
Unknown
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.
More Tales of the Ridings
Frederic Moorman
Her face is wrinkled, and her dim eyes are peering down the track which leads from the steading to the pasture.
The Right Stuff
Ian Hay

British Dictionary definitions for steading

steading

noun British

a farmstead

the outbuildings of a farm

Word Origin for steading

C15: from stead + -ing 1

stead

noun

(preceded by in) rare the place, function, or position that should be taken by anotherto come in someone's stead

stand someone in good stead to be useful or of good service to (someone)

verb

(tr) archaic to help or benefit

Word Origin for stead

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

Stead

noun

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)

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

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].

Idioms and Phrases with steading

stead

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