pa. pple. Forms: 23 bistaðed, -et, 35 bistad, 4 bisted, 45 bestedd(e, 46 bestadd(e, 47 bestad, 5 bistadde, bystedde, -stade, 6 bestade, 6 bestead, 8 bested. [ME. bistad, f. bi-, BE- 2 + stad, later sted, placed, a. ON. staddr pa. pple. of steðja to stop, place: see STED v. and pa. pple. (ME. had also bistaðed, ultimately f. ON. staðr place, which might itself have become stad: cf. history of clad.) The later spelling bestead is merely due to analogy, cf. BESTEAD v. and STEAD sb. Hence Spensers BESTAD pa. t. and pa. pple.]
† 1. Placed, located, situated. Obs.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 5254. Qua-so had ben be-stadd þat day, And had þat suete meting sene. Ibid., 1045. Now adam is in erþe bi stad.
c. 1300. in Wright, Lyric P., xi. 38. Of al this world namore y bad Then beo with hire myn one bistad.
c. 1430. Syr Tryam., 1461. In worlde where ever he be bestedd.
† 2. Settled, constituted, arranged. Obs.
c. 1300. in Wright, Lyric P., xii. 41. So hit wes bistad, That nomon hem ne bad huere lomes to fonde.
a. 1400. Cov. Myst., 77. We xal make us so mery, now this is bestad.
† 3. Set about, set with (ornaments), etc. Obs. Cf. BESET, BELAY.
1558. Phaër, Æneid, V. M iv b. A harneys coat with heauy hookes of gold bestad.
4. Beset by (formerly with, enemies), with (dangers, fears, troubles).
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 3365. Wyþ hys enmys he was bestedde.
1393. Gower, Conf., I. 77. For he with love was bestad.
1493. Festivall (W. de W., 1515), 6. Bestad with dethe on euery syde.
1598. R. Bernard, trans. Terences Andria, III. v. See you not how I am bestead by your devices.
1616. Manifest. Abp. Spalatos Motives, App. iii. 2. Bestead with feare of a more mortall blow approching from his prepared forces.
1839. Gleig, Only Dau. (1859), 103. Bested by the dangers of a Highland sheeptrack.
5. Placed in some situation, situated, circumstanced; generally with ill, and the like. To be hard bested: to be hard put to it, hard pressed.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 264. Hwon we beoð so bistaðed & so stronge bistonden.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 190. Þe þrid eschele fulle hard was bisted.
c. 1400. Epiph. (Turnb., 1843), 145. On the all wemen wyl call When thei with chylde ben by stedde.
a. 1420. Occleve, De Reg. Princ., 704. There rekkethe none how harde I be bystade.
1523. Ld. Berners, Froiss., I. cccxcviii. 690. They that were lefte behynde were hardly bestadde.
1593. Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., II. iii. 56. I never saw a fellow worse bestead.
1596. Spenser, F. Q., VI. i. 4. On his way, Uppon an hard adventure sore bestad.
a. 1618. J. Davies, in Farrs S. P. (1845), I. 247. Since by ill we are so well bestad, We cannot greeue for ill.
1730. T. Boston, Mem., App. 49. Luther found himself hardly bestead in the several conflicts within his own breast.
a. 1850. Rossetti, Dante & Circle, I. (1874), 157. Poor barque, so ill bested!
1881. Shairp, Aspects Poetry, vi. 166. Men of his [Virgils] kind are often sore bestead to give a reason for the faith that is still in them.
† b. In an evil sense, without an adverb expressing it: To be in trouble, to be hard pressed; to be in hard plight set (Promp. Parv.). Obs.
1393. Gower, Conf., III. 194. Whan they ben glad I shall be glad, And sory whan they ben bestad.
c. 1400. Rom. Rose, 1227. Were a man for hir bistadde, She wolde ben right sore adradde.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, X. xi. 16. All efferd of thy fatal dreidfull wordis I am bestad.
1587. Turberv., Trag. Tales (1837), 104. Shee was bestead, when that at last she sawe Gentile there.