stead, to stand in good stead; ‘Necessaries which since have steaded much’, Temp. i. 2. 165; to be of use to, benefit, help, Gent. Ver. ii. 1. 124; Othello, i. 3. 344; stead up, to take a person’s place (in an arrangement), Meas. for M. iii. 1. 261.
steaming; see [steming].
sted, a bedstead. Dryden, tr. of Virgil, Georgies, ii. 726.
stedy, an anvil. Caxton, Hist. Troye, leaf 149, back, 30. This form for ‘stithy’ is in prov. use in the north country, see EDD. (s.v. Stiddy). Icel. steði. See [stithy].
steenkirk, a loose cravat of fine lace. Vanbrugh, The Relapse, i. 3 (Sempstress); Congreve, Love for Love, i. 2 (Scandal). Named with reference to the battle of Steenkerke (1692). See Stanford.
stele, the shaft of an arrow, Ascham, Toxophilus, p. 123; the handle of a rake, Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 24. 19; ‘Steale or handell of a staffe, manche’, Palsgrave. This word in many spellings is in common prov. use in Scotland and England for a shaft or handle, esp. a long straight handle, see EDD. (s.v. Steal, sb.2). ME. stele, or sterte of a vessel, ‘ansa’ (Prompt. EETS. 434). OE. stela, a stalk. See [stale] (3).
stelled, fixed; ‘A face where all distress is stell’d’, Lucrece, 1444; stelled fires, fixed stars, King Lear, iii. 7. 61. ‘To stell’ is in prov. use in Scotland in the sense of to place, set, fix, see EDD. (s.v. Stell, vb. 7). OE. stellan, to place.
stellionate, fraudulent dealing. Bacon, Henry VII, ed. Lumby, p. 62. L. stellionatus, trickery; from stellio, a knave.
stem, to keep in, enclose. Spelt stemme, Spenser, F. Q. vi. 10. 12. Icel. stemma, to stop, dam up.
steming, shining, bright; ‘Two stemyng eyes’, Sir T. Wyatt, Sat. i. 53; ‘With skouling steaming eyes’, Phaer, tr. of Aeneid, vi. 300 (L. stant lumina flamma). ME. steeme, or lowe of fyre, ‘flamma’ (Prompt. EETS. 434); stem: ‘A stem Als it were a sunnebem’ (Havelok, 591).