stead

• enPR: stěd, IPA^(key): /stɛd/

• Audio (US):

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  Rhymes: -ɛd

From 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.

stead (plural steads)

1. (archaic or literary) A place, or spot, in general; location.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II”, in The Faerie Queene. , London: ">…] 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."

2. (obsolete) A place where a person normally rests; a seat.
   • 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.

3. (obsolete) An inhabited place; a settlement, city, town etc.
4. (archaic) An estate, a property with its grounds; a farm; a homestead.
   • 1889 December, H Rider Haggard, “ 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.

5. (obsolete) The frame on which a bed is laid; a bedstead.
   • 1693, John Dryden, Baucis and Philemon:

     The genial bed / Sallow the feet, the borders, and the stead.

6. (of a person or thing) The position or function (of someone or something), as taken on by a successor.
   • 1817 (date written), , Persuasion; published in Northanger Abbey: And Persuasion.  With a Biographical Notice of the Author. In Four Volumes.">…], 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.

7. (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.

8. (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.

9. (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.

stead (third-person singular simple present steads, present participle steading, simple past and past participle steaded)

1. (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 Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     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 Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     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 Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     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:

2. (obsolete) To fill the stead or place of something.

• bestead

Clipping of steady.

stead (plural steads)

1. (Singapore, colloquial) One's partner in a romantic relationship.
   • 1997 May 27, Ordinary People, soc.culture.singapore‎ (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.

   • 1998 April 17, L.Angel, soc.culture.singapore‎ (Usenet):

     I prefer to know a guy better as a friend first before even considering him as a potential stead.

   • 1999 February 13, L.Angel, soc.culture.singapore‎ (Usenet):

     One of the best dates I had was with his person who did attempt to impress me with expensive gifts or flowers. My date did asked though but I said no because for somebody who's not my stead and I dun feel there was a need to.

   • 2004 January 30, Fann Low, soc.culture.singapore‎ (Usenet):

     after 2 week or so I decide to tell her I like her and asked her to be my stead. But she tell me she had another guy. So we remain as friend.

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