v. Obs. For forms see STAND. [Com. Teut.: OE. bestanden = OS. bistân (Du. bestaan), OHG. bistân, pistantan (MHG. bestân, bestên, mod.G. bestehen), Goth. (and OTeut.) bistandan, f. bi-, BE- about + standan to stand.]
1. trans. To stand by or near; to stand over (in solicitude); esp. to stand by (the dead), to mourn for. Also absol.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gen. xxiii. 2. Abraham hiʓ bestod on þa ealdan wisan.
c. 1250. Owl & Night., 1438. He cumeþ and fareþ and beod and bid, And heo bistant [v.r. bistarte] and oversit.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 3857. Ðor wæs Moyses sister dead; Ðat folc after wune faire hire bistod Mid teres.
2. To stand round in hostility; to beset, press hard upon, harass.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., John x. 24. Ða bestodon [c. 1160 Hatton be-stoden] þa iudeas hyne utan.
c. 1205. Lay., 30323. Swa bið a bar wilde bistonden mid hunden.
c. 1320. Sir Tristr., I. xxxiv. Stormes hem bistode.
147085. Malory, Arthur (1816), II. 417. In all my life was I never thus bestood. Ibid., II. 466. He is full straitly bestood with a false traitor.
3. To surround, encompass (as a wall, water, etc.).
c. 1205. Lay., 23726. I þan aitlonde þat mid watere is bistonde. Ibid., 17175. Ich wat a wærc mid wundere bi-stonde.