Hest
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Command, injunction. obsolete
"[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, […]"
Example
More examples"So spake the God and with her hest complied, / and turned the massive sceptre in his hand / and pushed the hollow mountain on its side. / Out rushed the winds, like soldiers in a band, / in wedged array, and, whirling, scour the land."
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.
More for "hest"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.