bestead

¹ American  

[bih-sted] / bɪˈstɛd /

verb (used with object)

besteaded, besteaded, bestead, besteading

1. to help; assist; serve; avail.

---

bestead ² American  

[bih-sted] / bɪˈstɛd /

adjective

1. Archaic. placed or situated, often unfavorably or in difficulty.

---

Etymology

Origin of bestead¹

First recorded in 1575–85; be- + stead

Origin of bestead²

1300–50; Middle English bisted, bistad, equivalent to bi be- + sted, variant of stad placed < Old Norse staddr, past participle of stethja to place, derivative of stathr place

Example Sentences

Who is now hard bestead, but the lady?

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 57, No. 355, May 1845 by Various

But Joseph and Hyrum were harder bestead than ever I have been; and bolder men to boot.

From From Sea to Sea Letters of Travel by Kipling, Rudyard

XX Thus with distress and sorrow was Etzel ill bestead, Right bitterly bewailing his kin and subjects dead.

From The Nibelungenlied Revised Edition by Unknown

But the occasional honest mechanic or skilled workman in search of employment was hard bestead.

From The Making Of A Novelist An Experiment In Autobiography by Murray, David Christie

I'm sore bestead, Priscilla—I have a quarrel with Myles Standish, and 't is as big a fardel as my shoulders will bear.

From Standish of Standish A story of the Pilgrims by Austin, Jane G. (Jane Goodwin)