bestand
Verb

bestand (bestands, present participle bestanding; past and past participle bestood)

  1. (transitive) To stand by or near; stand around.
  2. (transitive) To beset; stand around in hostility; harass.
    • 1880, Sidney Lanier, Alfred Kappes, Sir Thomas Malory, The Boy's King Arthur:
      [...] that is my lord and uncle King Arthur, for he is full straitly bestood [sore beset] with a false traitor, which is my half brother Sir Mordred, [...]
  3. (transitive) To surround; encompass.
    • 1846, Polydore Vergil, Sir Henry Ellis, Polydore Vergil's English history:
      Wherefore the Brittishe bisshops, bestood with weapons and enemies, when thei coulde not execute all functions, and perceaved that the prelates their neighbours weare prompte to assiste them, [...]
  4. (transitive) To serve; be of service to; be ready to serve or aid.
    • 1904, Donald Grant Mitchell, American Lands and Letters:
      [...] and, inherited Puritan crust of stiffness that rarely left him, and which bestood him well under the ceremonials of his mission, whether at London (1846- 49) or later (1867-74) in Berlin.
    • 1907, Donald Grant Mitchell, The works of Donald G. Mitchell:
      Would not children come kindly to such out-of-door lessons, and to such practical knowledge as would always bestand them well?
Synonyms


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