Word: stead Part of Speech: noun Etymology: 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. cognates and related terms Cognate with Scots steid (“location, place”), North Frisian Stair, Stat, steed, stää (“city, town; place, stead”), Saterland Frisian Steede (“place, stead”), Stääd (“city, town”), West Frisian stêd (“city, town”), Bavarian Stådt (“city, town”), Dutch stad, stede (“city, town”), German Stadt (“city, town”), Statt (“abode, place, stead”), Stätte (“place, spot, venue”), German Low German Stee (“location, place”), Luxembourgish Stad (“city, town”), Vilamovian śtaod (“city, town”), Yiddish שטאָט (shtot, “city, town”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål stad (“city, town”), sted (“place”), Faroese stað (“place”), staður (“location, place; town”), Icelandic staður (“location, place”), Norn sta (“domicile, farm”), Norwegian Nynorsk stad (“place; city, town”), Swedish stad, stadh, stedt (“city, town”), Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌸𐍃 (staþs, “location, place”). See the doublet stasis. Pronunciation: /stɛd/ 1. The position or function (of someone or something), as taken on by a successor. Example: 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! Example: 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 […] 2. A place as it relates to a role, service, or ability; capacity. Labels: figuratively Example: 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. Example: 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. 3. A relational or circumstantial position; standing. Labels: figuratively, uncountable Example: 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. 4. A place as it relates to situation, circumstance, or status; condition. Labels: countable, figuratively Example: Anthropology in India started in a different stead than what was the situation of its emergence in other countries. Example: 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 […] 5. A place, or spot, in general; location. Labels: archaic, literary Example: For he ne wonneth in one certaine stead, / But restlesse walketh all the world around[…]. Example: 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." 6. A place where a person normally rests; a seat. Labels: obsolete Example: There now the hart, fearlesse of greyhound, feeds, / And loving pelican in safety breeds; / There shrieking satyres fill the people's emptie steads. 7. An inhabited place; a settlement, city, town etc. Labels: obsolete 8. An estate, a property with its grounds; a farm; a homestead. Labels: archaic Example: 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. Example: 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. 9. The frame on which a bed is laid; a bedstead. Labels: obsolete Example: The genial bed / Sallow the feet, the borders, and the stead.