bested, bestead, pa. pple.
(bɪˈstɛd)
Forms: 2–3 bistaðed, -et, 3–5 bistad, 4 bisted, 4–5 bestedd(e, 4–6 bestadd(e, 4–7 bestad, 5 bistadde, bystedde, -stade, 6 bestade, 6– bestead, 8– bested.
[ME. bistad, f. bi-, be- 2 + stad, later sted, ‘placed.’ a. ON. staddr pa. pple. of steðja to stop, place: see sted v. and pa. pple. (ME. had also bistaðed, ultimately f. ON. staðr ‘place,’ which might itself have become stad: cf. history of clad.) The later spelling bestead is merely due to analogy, cf. bestead v. and stead n. Hence Spenser's bestad pa. tense and pa. pple.]
† 1. Placed, located, situated. Obs.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 5254 Qua-so had ben be-stadd þat day, And had þat suete meting sene. Ibid. 1045 Now adam is in erþe bi stad. c 1300 in Wright Lyric P. xi. 38 Of al this world namore y bad Then beo with hire myn one bistad. c 1430 Syr. Tryam. 1461 In worlde where ever he be bestedd. |
† 2. Settled, constituted, arranged. Obs.
| c 1300 in Wright Lyric P. xii. 41 So hit wes bistad, That nomon hem ne bad huere lomes to fonde. a 1400 Cov. Myst. 77 We xal make us so mery, now this is bestad. |
† 3. Set about, set with (ornaments), etc. Obs. Cf. beset, belay.
| 1558 Phaër æneid v. M iv b, A harneys coat..with heauy hookes of gold bestad. |
4. Beset by (formerly with, enemies), with (dangers, fears, troubles).
| 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 3365 Wyþ hys enmys he was bestedde. 1393 Gower Conf. I. 77 For he with love was bestad. 1493 Festivall (W. de W. 1515) 6 Bestad with dethe on euery syde. 1598 R. Bernard tr. Terence's Andria iii. v, See you not how I am bestead by your devices. 1616 Manifest. Abp. Spalato's Motives App. iii. 2 Bestead with feare of a more mortall blow. 1839 G. R. Gleig Only Dau. (1859) 103 Bested by the dangers of a Highland sheeptrack. |
5. Placed in some situation, situated, circumstanced; generally with ill, and the like. to be hard bested: to be hard put to it, hard pressed.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 264 Hwon we beoð so bistaðed & so stronge bistonden. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 190 Þe þrid eschele fulle hard was bisted. c 1400 Epiph. (Turnb. 1843) 145 On the all wemen wyl call When thei with chylde ben by stedde. a 1420 Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 704 There rekkethe none how harde I be bystade. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. cccxcviii. 690 They that were lefte behynde were hardly bestadde. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, ii. iii. 56, I never saw a fellow worse bestead. 1596 Spenser F.Q. vi. i. 4 On his way, Uppon an hard adventure sore bestad. a 1618 J. Davies in Farr S.P. (1845) I. 247 Since by ill we are so well bestad, We cannot greeue for ill. 1730 T. Boston Mem. App. 49 Luther found himself hardly bestead in the several conflicts within his own breast. a 1850 Rossetti Dante & Circ. i. (1874) 157 Poor barque, so ill bested! 1881 Shairp Asp. Poetry vi. 166 Men of his kind..are often sore bestead. |
† b. In an evil sense, without an adverb expressing it: To be in trouble, to be hard pressed; to be ‘in hard plight set’ (Promp. Parv.). Obs.
| 1393 Gower Conf. III. 194 Whan they ben glad I shall be glad, And sory whan they ben bestad. c 1400 Rom. Rose 1227 Were a man for hir bistadde, She wolde ben right sore adradde. 1513 Douglas æneis x. xi. 16 All efferd of thy fatal dreidfull wordis I am bestad. 1587 Turberv. Trag. Tales (1837) 104 Shee was bestead, when that at last she sawe Gentile there. |