onstead
English edit
Etymology edit
With loss of original w-, due to Scandinavian una (“to reside, dwell”), from *wonstead, from won (“to reside, dwell”) + stead. More at wone, stead.
Alternatively, possibly a corruption of homestead.
Noun edit
onstead (plural onsteads)
- (UK, Scotland, dialect, archaic) A single farmhouse; a steading.
- 1737, Mr David Wilson, “on the Present State of the Upper Ward of Lanarkshire”, in Prize-essays and Transactions of the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland:
- The farm onsteads on many properties are old, and afford too little accommodation
- 1828, Robert Chambers, The Picture of Scotland, volume 1, page 232:
- The onstead, which is nearly the same as when inhabited by the poet, lies about seven miles from the town, on the right hand side of the road, surrounded by a few trees.
- 1875, Rev. John Thomson, Life and Times of William Thomson:
- We then did a house at Mowhaugh, and a farm-house at Stodrig, and a part of an onstead. I did the wrightwork of a house at Bemersyde, and an onstead at Butchercote.
References edit
“onstead”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.