behest

What it means

1. A command, bidding; sometimes also, an authoritative request; now usually in the phrase at the behest of and at one's behest.First known use 12th c.

   to do his master's high behest

   1805, Walter Scott, “(please specify the page)”, in The Lay of the Last Minstrel: A Poem, London: […] [James Ballantyne] for Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, […], and A[rchibald] Constable and Co., […], →OCLC

   5 more examples

   Moſt great and puiſant Monarke of the earth, Your Baſſoe wil accompliſh your beheſt: […]

   c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene i

   I have spells for the north, I have charms for the west, / And the south and the east must obey my behest.

   1886, Peter Christen Asbjø￵rnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 302

   Paul did not dare pronounce, let matters rest, / His master having given him no behest.

   1951, Geoffrey Chaucer, translated by Nevill Coghill, The Canterbury Tales: Translated into Modern English (Penguin Classics), Penguin Books, published 1977, page 278

   The London Midland Region has announced receipt of authority from the Ministry of Transport to resume the reconstruction of Stafford station and layout, interrupted at the Minister's behest; contracts have now been placed for the erection of the new station buildings and the yardmaster's office.

   1961 May, “Talking of Trains: Stourton and Stafford approved”, in Trains Illustrated, page 260

   Sophie felt she should sit on too though she knew it to be an irrational fantasy of hers that these little services were held at his behest.

   2005, Patrick Gale, Friendly Fire, London; New York: Fourth Estate, page 150

2. obsoleteA 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.

In a sentence

Moſt great and puiſant Monarke of the earth, Your Baſſoe wil accompliſh your beheſt: […]

c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene i

Where it comes from

1. Proto-Germanic*haisiz
2. Proto-West Germanic*bihaisi
3. Old Englishbehǣs“vow, promise”
4. Middle Englishbiheste
5. Englishbehest

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.

First known use: 12th c.