hest

(redirected from hests)

hest

(hĕst)

n. Archaic

Command; behest.

[Middle English, alteration of hes, from Old English hǣs; see keiə- in Indo-European roots.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

hest

(hɛst)

an archaic word for behest

[Old English hǣs; related to hātan to promise, command]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

be•hest

(bɪˈhɛst)

n.

1. a command; directive.

2. an earnest request.

[before 1000; Middle English bihest(e), Old English behǣs promise. See be-, hest]

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References in classic literature ?

But if ye still keep silence, if through fear For self or friends ye disregard my hest, Hear what I then resolve; I lay my ban On the assassin whosoe'er he be.

See that ye give effect to all my hest, For my sake and the god's and for our land, A desert blasted by the wrath of heaven.

View in context

The road I choose, Dogged by my sire and his avenging spirit, Leads me to ruin; but for you may Zeus Make your path bright if ye fulfill my hest When dead; in life ye cannot serve me more.

View in context

Now that the gloomy shadow of the night, Longing to view Orion's drizzling look, Leaps from th' antartic world unto the sky, And dims the welkin with her pitchy breath, Faustus, begin thine incantations, And try if devils will obey thy hest, Seeing thou hast pray'd and sacrific'd to them.