stead /stɛd/noun 10verb 2forms 3 noun10 •The position or function (of someone or something), as taken on by a successor.Had Daniel Ortega not got himself illegally on to this year’s ballot to seek a third term, his wife might have run in his stead. — 2011 •(figurative) A relational or circumstantial position; standing. •(figurative) A place as it relates to situation, circumstance, or status; condition.Anthropology in India started in a different stead than what was the situation of its emergence in other countries. — 1969 •(figurative) A place as it relates to a role, service, or ability; capacity.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. — 1902 •(Singapore, informal) One's partner in a romantic relationship.I prefer to know a guy better as a friend first before even considering him as a potential stead. — 1998 •(no longer used) An estate, a property with its grounds; a farm; a homestead.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. — 1889 •(literary, no longer used) A place, or spot, in general; location.For he ne wonneth in one certaine stead, / But restlesse walketh all the world around[…]. — 1590 •(no longer used) The frame on which a bed is laid; a bedstead.The genial bed / Sallow the feet, the borders, and the stead. — 1693 •(no longer used) A place where a person normally rests; a seat.There now the hart, fearlesse of greyhound, feeds, / And loving pelican in safety breeds; / There shrieking satyres fill the people's emptie steads. — 1633 •(no longer used) An inhabited place; a settlement, city, town etc. verb2 •(no longer used) To help, support, benefit or assist; to be helpful.May you stead me? will you pleasure me? shall I know your answer? — 1596 •(no longer used) To fill the stead or place of something. formssteaded · steading · steads
