%stead%

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Bestead or Bested, also (Obs.) Bestad. In sense 3 imp. also Besteaded. ] [ Pref. be- + stead a place. ] 1. To put in a certain situation or condition; to circumstance; to place. [ Only in p. p. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

They shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry: . . . and curse their king and their God. Is. viii. 21. [ 1913 Webster ]

Many far worse bestead than ourselves. Barrow. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To put in peril; to beset. [ Only in p. p. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To serve; to assist; to profit; to avail. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Entrance or place of a door. [ Obs. or Local ] Bp. Warburton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A farm with the building upon it; a homestead on a farm. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

With its pleasant groves and farmsteads. Carlyle. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A farmstead. [ Scot. ] Black. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Girdle + stead place. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. That part of the body where the girdle is worn. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Sheathed, beneath his girdlestead. Chapman. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The lap. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

There fell a flower into her girdlestead. Swinburne. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. hāmstede. ] 1. The home place; a home and the inclosure or ground immediately connected with it. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The home or seat of a family; place of origin. [ 1913 Webster ]

We can trace them back to a homestead on the Rivers Volga and Ural. W. Tooke. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Law) The home and appurtenant land and buildings owned by the head of a family, and occupied by him and his family. [ 1913 Webster ]

Homestead law. (a) A law conferring special privileges or exemptions upon owners of homesteads; esp., a law exempting a homestead from attachment or sale under execution for general debts. Such laws, with limitations as to the extent or value of the property, exist in most of the States. Called also homestead exemption law. (b) Also, a designation of an Act of Congress authorizing and regulating the sale of public lands, in parcels of 160 acres each, to actual settlers. [ U.S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who has entered upon a portion of the public land with the purpose of acquiring ownership of it under provisions of the homestead law, so called; one who has acquired a homestead in this manner. [ Local, U.S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. [ Pref. in- + stead place. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. In the place or room; -- usually followed by of. [ 1913 Webster ]

Let thistles grow of wheat. Job xxxi. 40. [ 1913 Webster ]

Absalom made Amasa captain of the host instead of Joab. 2 Sam. xvii. 25. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Equivalent; equal to; -- usually with of. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

This very consideration to a wise man is instead of a thousand arguments, to satisfy him, that in those times no such thing was believed. Tillotson. [ 1913 Webster ]

prop. n. Connecticut; -- a nickname alluding to the moral character of its inhabitants, implied by the rigid laws (see Blue laws) of the early period. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ Market + stead a place. ] A market place. [ Obs. ] Drayton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Mere boundary + stead place. ] The land within the boundaries of a farm; a farmstead or farm. [ Archaic. ] Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The position of the sun at noon. [ Obs. ] Drayton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Possibly a corruption of homestead. ] A single farmhouse; a steading. [ Prov. Eng. & Scot. ] Grose. Jamieson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Road, 4 + stead a place. ] An anchorage off shore. Same as Road, 4. [ 1913 Webster ]

Moored in the neighboring roadstead. Longfellow. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. stede place, AS. stede; akin to LG. & D. stede, OS. stad, stedi, OHG. stat, G. statt, stätte, Icel. staðr, Dan. sted, Sw. stad, Goth. staþs, and E. stand. √163. See Stand, and cf. Staith, Stithy. ] 1. Place, or spot, in general. [ Obs., except in composition. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Fly, therefore, fly this fearful stead anon. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Place or room which another had, has, or might have. “Stewards of your steads.” Piers Plowman. [ 1913 Webster ]

In stead of bounds, he a pillar set. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A frame on which a bed is laid; a bedstead. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The genial bed,
Sallow the feet, the borders, and the stead. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A farmhouse and offices. [ Prov. Eng. & Scot. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ The word is now commonly used as the last part of a compound; as, farmstead, homestead, roadstead, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

In stead of, in place of. See Instead. --
To stand in stead, or
To do stead, to be of use or great advantage. [ 1913 Webster ]

The smallest act . . . shall stand us in great stead. Atterbury. [ 1913 Webster ]

Here thy sword can do thee little stead. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To help; to support; to benefit; to assist. [ 1913 Webster ]

Perhaps my succour or advisement meet,
Mote stead you much your purpose to subdue. Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

It nothing steads us
To chide him from our eaves. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To fill the place of. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Stead + fast, that is, fast in place. ] [ Written also stedfast. ] 1. Firmly fixed or established; fast fixed; firm. “This steadfast globe of earth.” Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Not fickle or wavering; constant; firm; resolute; unswerving; steady. “Steadfast eye.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Abide steadfast unto him [ thy neighbor ] in the time of his trouble. Ecclus. xxii. 23. [ 1913 Webster ]

Whom resist steadfast in the faith. 1 Pet. v. 9. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a steadfast manner; firmly. [ 1913 Webster ]

Steadfastly believe that whatever God has revealed is infallibly true. Wake. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality or state of being steadfast; firmness; fixedness; constancy. “The steadfastness of your faith.” Col. ii. 5. [ 1913 Webster ]

To prove her wifehood and her steadfastness. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In a steady manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The quality or state of being steady. [ 1913 Webster ]

Steadiness is a point of prudence as well as of courage. L'Estrange. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Constancy; resolution; unchangeableness. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The barns, stables, cattle-yards, etc., of a farm; -- called also onstead, farmstead, farm offices, or farmery. [ Prov. Eng. & Scot. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Compar. Steadier superl. Steadiest. ] [ Cf. AS. stedig sterile, barren, staeððig, steady (in gestaeððig), D. stedig, stadig, steeg, G. stätig, stetig. See Stead, n. ] 1. Firm in standing or position; not tottering or shaking; fixed; firm. “The softest, steadiest plume.” Keble. [ 1913 Webster ]

Their feet steady, their hands diligent, their eyes watchful, and their hearts resolute. Sir P. Sidney. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Constant in feeling, purpose, or pursuit; not fickle, changeable, or wavering; not easily moved or persuaded to alter a purpose; resolute; as, a man steady in his principles, in his purpose, or in the pursuit of an object. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Regular; constant; undeviating; uniform; as, the steady course of the sun; a steady breeze of wind. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Fixed; regular; uniform; undeviating; invariable; unremitted; stable. [ 1913 Webster ]

Steady rest (Mach), a rest in a turning lathe, to keep a long piece of work from trembling. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Steadied p. pr. & vb. n. Steadying. ] To make steady; to hold or keep from shaking, reeling, or falling; to make or keep firm; to support; to make constant, regular, or resolute. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To become steady; to regain a steady position or state; to move steadily. [ 1913 Webster ]

Without a breeze, without a tide,
She steadies with upright keel. Coleridge. [ 1913 Webster ]