in one's stead
prep_phraseUS, UK /ɪn wʌns ˈstɛd/
Etymology From Middle English in ones stede, equivalent to in + one’s + stead (“function or position of someone or something, as taken on by a successor; (obsolete) place, spot”).
› In place of someone or something.
- Then the people of the land tooke Jehoahaz the ſon of Joſiah, and made him King in his fathers ſtead in Ieruſalem.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Chronicles 36:1, column 2:
- Bleſſed Lord [Jesus], they crucifie thee for all thy good vvorks: if thou hadſt been guilty, poſſibly thou mighteſt have been ſpared in the stead of Barabbas; […]1676, [Matthew Hale], “Of the Knowledge of Christ Crucified”, in Contemplations Moral and Divine. […], London: […] William Godbid, for William Shrowsbury […], and John Leigh […], →OCLC, page 229:
- [W]henever any vvord doth not fully content us, vve take upon us to conclude, firſt that the author could never have us'd it, and ſecondly, that he muſt have uſed that very one vvhich vve conjecture, in its ſtead.1729, [Alexander Pope], “Book the Second”, in The Dunciad. With Notes Variorum, and the Prolegomena of Scriblerus, London: […] Lawton Gilliver […], →OCLC, page 88:
4 more examples
- A Laſh like mine no honeſt man ſhall dread, / But all ſuch babling blockheads in his ſtead.1735 January 13 (Gregorian calendar; indicated as 1734), [Alexander] Pope, An Epistle from Mr. Pope, to Dr. Arbuthnot, London: […] J[ohn] Wright for Lawton Gilliver […], →OCLC, page 15, lines 292–293:
- Dovvn falls the venerable pile, th' abode / Of our forefathers, a grave vvhiſker'd race, / But taſteleſs. Springs a palace in its ſtead, / But in a diſtant ſpot; […]1785, William Cowper, “Book III. The Garden.”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson; […], →OCLC, page 130:
- Features convulsed and mutterings dread, / Show terror reigns in sorrow's stead; […]1813, Walter Scott, “Canto First”, in Rokeby; a Poem, Edinburgh: […] [F]or John Ballantyne and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown; by James Ballantyne and Co., […], →OCLC, stanza III, page 7:
- Some maiden, of her own accord, / Offers her life for that of her lord, / And is willing to die in his stead.1851, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Golden Legend, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC, page 62:
- Thẽ [then] Iaakobs angre vvas kindeled againſt Rahél, and he ſaid, Am I in Gods ſtede, vvhich hathe vvithholden frõ [from] thee the frute of the vvombe?1560, [William Whittingham et al., transl.], The Bible and Holy Scriptures Conteyned in the Olde and Newe Testament. […] (the Geneva Bible), Geneva: […] Rouland Hall, →OCLC, Genesis XXX:2, folio 13, verso, column 2:
- Didſt thou [Jesus] not chooſe even that vvhich thou novv groaneſt under; and vvert vvilling to put thy Soul in our Souls ſtead, and bear the ſin of thoſe vvhich are novv thy burden?1676, [Matthew Hale], “Of the Knowledge of Christ Crucified”, in Contemplations Moral and Divine. […], London: […] William Godbid, for William Shrowsbury […], and John Leigh […], →OCLC, page 213:
- Examined after her own fashion, Zarah confirmed the tale of Christian in all its points, and admitted that she had deranged the project laid for a mask, by placing the dwarf in her own stead; […]1822, [Walter Scott], chapter XIII, in Peveril of the Peak. […], volume IV, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 310:
- Related terms
- in good stead