stead
English
editPronunciation
editEtymology 1
editFrom Middle English sted, stede (noun) and steden (verb), from Old English stede, from Proto-Germanic *stadiz (“place”), from Proto-Indo-European *stéh₂tis (“standing, location”). Doublet of stad.
cognates and related terms
Noun
editstead (plural steads)
- (archaic or literary) A place, or spot, in general; location. [10th–19th c.]
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
- For he ne wonneth in one certaine stead, / But restlesse walketh all the world around […].
- 1885, Sir Richard Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night:
- The three Princes ceased not travelling together for seven days, at the end of which time one said to other, "Let us separate and let each make search in a different stead, so haply shall we hit upon our need."
- 2019, James Meek, To Calais, In Ordinary Time:
- " […] I went to another stead in the yard to be further from her cries."
- (obsolete) A place where a person normally rests; a seat. [10th–18th c.]
- 1633, P. Fletcher, Purple Island:
- There now the hart, fearlesse of greyhound, feeds, / And loving pelican in safety breeds; / There shrieking satyres fill the people's emptie steads.
- (obsolete) An inhabited place; a settlement, city, town etc. [13th–16th c.]
- (archaic) An estate, a property with its grounds; a farm; a homestead.
- 1889 December, H[enry] Rider Haggard, “[Allan’s Wife] The Baboon-Woman”, in Allan’s Wife and Other Tales, London: Spencer Blackett, […], →OCLC, page 123:
- But of course I could not do this by myself, so I took a Hottentot—a very clever man when he was not drunk—who lived on the stead, into my confidence.
- 2008, Bronwynn Forrest Torgerson, One Witch's Way, page 5:
- Nordic types may turn to Frigga as queen mother of Asgard, or even to good friend Thor, known to gladly bless a new stead and to party with the best.
- 2010, L. E. Modesitt, Jr., Darknesses, page 25:
- Only when he reached the stead road, and Wildebeast, did he concentrate on the image of carrion, of food for the sandwolf pack.
- (obsolete) The frame on which a bed is laid; a bedstead. [15th–19th c.]
- 1693, John Dryden, Baucis and Philemon:
- The genial bed / Sallow the feet, the borders, and the stead.
- (of a person or thing) The position or function (of someone or something), as taken on by a successor. [from 15th c.]
- 1817 (date written), [Jane Austen], Persuasion; published in Northanger Abbey: And Persuasion. […], volume (please specify |volume=III or IV), London: John Murray, […], 20 December 1817 (indicated as 1818), →OCLC:
- She was so wretched and so vehement, complained so much of injustice in being expected to go away instead of Anne; Anne, who was nothing to Louisa, while she was her sister, and had the best right to stay in Henrietta's stead!
- 1961, Muriel Saint Clare Byrne, Elizabethan Life in Town and Country, page 285:
- His nurse had told him all about changelings, and how the little people would always try to steal a beautiful human child out of its cradle and put in its stead one of their own ailing, puking brats […]
- 2011 March 31, “Kin selection”, in The Economist:
- Had Daniel Ortega not got himself illegally on to this year’s ballot to seek a third term, his wife might have run in his stead.
- (figurative) A place as it relates to a role, service, or ability; capacity.
- 1902, Alvidas, Science and Key of Life: Planetary Influences, volume 1:
- One may not expect to entirely stop the oncoming energy but the outgoing stands in a different stead, for in this a certain amount of ruling is possible by the native.
- 2000, FCC Record:
- For instance, those who operate under generally available terms and conditions or whose interconnection agreements do not confer a contractual right to the BOC performance they seek under section 271 may stand in a different stead than those who have pursued claims that a BOC has failed to perform as required by agreement.
- 2013, Kevin J. Anderson, Clockwork Angels:
- He had intended to create diamonds with his experiments, but the accidental discovery of such amazingly explosive chemical reactions served him in a different stead.
- (figurative, uncountable) A relational or circumstantial position; standing.
- 2010 September 19, Dan van der Vat, The Guardian:
- Though small and delicate-looking, she gave an impression of intense earnestness and latent toughness, qualities that stood her in good stead when she dared to challenge the most intrusive communist society in eastern Europe.
- (figurative, countable) A place as it relates to situation, circumstance, or status; condition.
- 1969, Proceedings of the Indian Science Congress:
- Anthropology in India started in a different stead than what was the situation of its emergence in other countries.
- 2013, Sonnia De Guzman, Collected Poems, page 41:
- I shiver to the cold solitude
Overwhelming desire to have a different stead
I don't know why
I don't know why
I'm just afraid to fly […]
- 2014, Michael Moran, Private Foundations and Development Partnerships:
- It is not only the sheer size of its endowment or the range and extent of its network ties that place it in a different stead to other unofficial actors.
- 2019, Davinder Sangha, White Shorts, White Socks:
- The Adidas shirts look fantastic and certainly put us in a different stead.
- 2021, C.E. Young, The Naked Truth Unveiled, page 67:
- Adding to the hem of a holy garment suggests a desire to be in a different stead.
Derived terms
editRelated terms
editTranslations
edita place, or spot, in general
|
the position or function (of someone or something), as taken on by a successor
a frame on which a bed is laid; a bedstead — see also bedstead
an estate, a property with its grounds; a farm; a homestead
|
Verb
editstead (third-person singular simple present steads, present participle steading, simple past and past participle steaded)
- (obsolete) To help, support, benefit or assist; to be helpful.
- c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:
- May you stead me? will you pleasure me? shall I know your answer?
- c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:
- I could never better stead thee than now. […]
- 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
- Some food we had and some fresh water that / A noble Neapolitan, Gonzalo, / Out of his charity,—who being then appointed / Master of this design,—did give us, with / Rich garments, linens, stuffs, and necessaries, / Which since have steaded much: […]
- (obsolete) To fill the stead or place of something.
Derived terms
editTranslations
editto help; to support; to benefit; to assist
Etymology 2
editNoun
editstead (plural steads)
- (Singapore, colloquial) One's partner in a romantic relationship.
- 1997 May 27, Ordinary People, soc.culture.singapore[1] (Usenet):
- C'mon lah!! Wake up.. Y R U stupid girls so CHEAP!! Imagine a baby making out with an adult! Want to have stead,.. Go find 1 16yr old rich kid lah!! At for let those men take advantage!! Remember Men CANNOT be Trusted!! Boys maybe can.
Anagrams
editCategories:
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ɛd
- Rhymes:English/ɛd/1 syllable
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *steh₂-
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms inherited from Proto-Indo-European
- English doublets
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- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with archaic senses
- English literary terms
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- English terms with obsolete senses
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- English verbs
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