bestead, bested, bestad, bestadde, bisted

t. [Eng. pref. be, and stead. A.S. stede, stæde, styde = a place, station, stead.] E ential meaning, to place or dispose, so as to produce certain results. Specially "Hence, vain deluding joys, The brood of Folly, without father bred! How little you bested , Or fill the fixed mind with all your toys!" Milton: Il Penseroso. 2. So to place as to entertain, to receive, or accommodate, or simply entertain; to receive, to accommodate. "They shall pa through it hardly bestead and hungry."-/sa. viii. 21. 3. So to place as to beset, surround, entangle, overwhelm, or overpower; or simply to beset, surround, entangle, overwhelm, or overpower. "... ye have come at a time when he's sair bested ." -Scott: Guy Manner ing, ch. xi, "Thus ill bestedd , and feare full more of shame Then of the certeine perill he stood in." Spenser: F. Q. , I. 1. 24. bě-stead', †bě-stêd', * bě-stêdd, * bě stêd děd, *bě-stad, *bě-stadde, * bistêd', pa. par. [BESTEAD.] "And there the ladie, ill of friends be stedded." Spenser: F. Q., IV. 1. 3.