Meanings
plural hests
- obsoleteCommand, injunction.
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 11 more example
[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
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- Old Englishhātan
- Old Englishhǣs“command”
- Middle Englishhes
- Middle Englishheste
- Englishhest
From Middle English heste, alteration of Middle English hes, from Old English hǣs (“command”). Akin to Old English hātan "to command". More at hight.
More words from Middle English, Old English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Russian прика́з, приказа́ние
- прика́з (prikáz)command, injunction
- приказа́ние (prikazánije)command, injunction
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with hest
Anagrams
Cite this entry
hest. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hest
“hest.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hest. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hest,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hest.
Source: hest on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.