hest

noun

hest

noun

/hɛst/

Etymology From Middle English heste, alteration of Middle English hes, from Old English hǣs (“command”). Akin to Old English hātan "to command". More at hight.

1

Obsolete Command, injunction.

  • [T]hou [Ariel] vvaſt a Spirit too delicate / To act her [the witch Sycorax's] earthy, and abhord commands, / Refuſing her grand heſts, ſhe did confine thee / By helpe of her more potent Miniſters, / And in her moſt vnmittigable rage, / Into a cloven Pyne, […]1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], page 4, column 1:
  • Fer[dinand]. […] VVhat is your name? / Mir[anda]. Miranda, O my Father, / I haue broke your heſt to ſay ſo.1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i], page 11, column 1:
Related terms
behest

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.