▪ I. † hede Obs.
Also hed.
[ME. hede:—OE. type *hǽdu (acc. hǽde) fem., beside hád masc.; corresp. to MHG. heit fem., OHG. hait, heit, m. and f., ‘person, order, rank, position’, Goth. haidus, masc., ‘manner, way’. See had n., -head suffix.]
1. Rank, order, condition, quality.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 21220 [Barnabas] wan vn-to þe apostlis hede. Ibid. 21700 Suld haf þe preistes hede wit dome. a 1400 Sir Perc. 1103 Blode rede was his stede, His aktone and his other wede, His cote of the same hede. |
2. By entering into combination with qualifying adj., or with n., it became a suffix, ME. -hede, mod.Eng. -head, Sc. -heid: see -head.
| a 1100 O.E. Chron. an. 1070 Þurh heora druncen hed on an niht for bærnde þa cyrce. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 56 On miȝt and on godfulhed. Ibid. 1852 Sichem tok hire maiden⁓hed. a 1300 Cursor M. 6949 (Gött.) His sone Elyazar was neist, And bar þe state of his fadir hede. c 1440 Hylton Scala Perf. (1494) ii. xlvi, The fairhede of angels. 1535 Coverdale Zech. xi. 14 The brotherheade betwixte Iuda and Israel. 1585 Jas. I Ess. Poesie (Arb.) 54 Chyldheid. |
▪ II. hede
obs. form of head n.1, heed.