Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Stead

Stead (stĕd), 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.

Fly, therefore, fly this fearful stead anon. Spenser.

2. Place or room which another had, has, or might have. "Stewards of your steads." Piers Plowman.

In stead of bounds, he a pillar set. Chaucer.

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

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

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

☞ The word is now commonly used as the last part of a compound; as, farmstead, homestead, readstead, etc.

In stead of, in place of. See Instead. — To stand in stead, or To do stead, to be of use or great advantage.

The smallest act . . . shall stand us in great stead. Atterbury.

Here thy sword can do thee little stead. Milton.

Stead, v. t. 1. To help; to support; to benefit; to assist.

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

It nothing steads us To chide him from our eaves. Shak.

2. To fill place of. [Obs.] Shak.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.