behest
noun
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L316894 on Wikidata ↗Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /bɪˈhɛst/ / /biˈhɛst/ / /bɪˈhest/
noun
Etymology: From Middle English biheste, from Old English behǣs (“vow, promise”), from Proto-West Germanic *bihaisi, from *bi- (“be-”) + *haisi (“command”), from Proto-Germanic *haisiz, from *haitaną (“to command”). Final -t by analogy with other similar words in -t. Related to Old English behātan (“to command, promise”), Middle Low German beheit, behēt (“a promise”). Compare also hest (“command”), hight.
- A command, bidding; sometimes also, an authoritative request; now usually in the phrase at the behest of and at one's behest.
“Moſt great and puiſant Monarke of the earth, Your Baſſoe wil accompliſh your beheſt: […]”
“to do his master's high behest”
- A vow; a promise.
“c. 1440, Markaryte Paston, letter to John Paston The time is come that I should send it her, if I keep the behest that I have made.”
verb
Etymology: From Middle English biheste, from Old English behǣs (“vow, promise”), from Proto-West Germanic *bihaisi, from *bi- (“be-”) + *haisi (“command”), from Proto-Germanic *haisiz, from *haitaną (“to command”). Final -t by analogy with other similar words in -t. Related to Old English behātan (“to command, promise”), Middle Low German beheit, behēt (“a promise”). Compare also hest (“command”), hight.
- To promise; vow.