stead

Meanings

Noun

• A place where a person normally rests; a seat.
• An inhabited place; a settlement, city, town etc.
• An estate, a property with its grounds; a farm.
• The frame on which a bed is laid; a bedstead.
• The position or function (of someone or something), as taken on by a successor.
• An emotional or circumstantial "place" having specified advantages, qualities etc. (now only in phrases).
• One's partner in a romantic relationship.

Verb

• To help, support, benefit or assist; to be helpful.
• To fill the stead or place of something.

Origin

• From Middle English sted and steden, from Old English stede, from Proto-Germanic *stadiz, from Proto-Indo-European *stéh₂tis. Cognate with German Stadt, Statt and Stätte, Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌸𐍃 ("place"), Danish and Swedish stad, Norwegian Bokmål sted, Scots steid, Dutch stad, Yiddish שטאָט. See the doublet stasis.
• Short form of steady