Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To serve; be of service to; be ready to serve or aid.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive To stand by or near; stand around.
  • verb transitive To beset; stand around in hostility; harass.
  • verb transitive To surround; encompass.
  • verb transitive To serve; be of service to; be ready to serve or aid.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English bistanden, bestanden, from Old English bestandan ("to stand round or about, beset, surround, attend to, harass"), equivalent to be- +‎ stand. Cognate with Dutch bestaan ("to exist, subsist, live"), German bestehen ("to exist, endure, be available"), Swedish bestå ("to consist, continue, endure, provide").

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word bestand.

Examples

  • Another note: In his brilliant commentary on The Question Concerning Technology, called The Gods and Technology, Richard Rojcewicz presents what i think is a better translation for "bestand" namely "disposables" for which Lovitt has used the somewhat more abstract "standing reserve."

    enowning enowning 2008

  • Experts agree that the bestand possibly the onlyway to pay off credit card debt is by yourself, little by little.

    Enough Already Peter Walsh 2009

  • What if he punctuated his conversational speech with Heideggerian coinages like “bestand,” “gestell,” and “dwelling”?

    enowning enowning 2009

  • What if he punctuated his conversational speech with Heideggerian coinages like “bestand,” “gestell,” and “dwelling”?

    Archive 2009-07-01 enowning 2009

  • The holiday season brings out the bestand sometimes the worstin people.

    Smoke, Mirrors, and Murder Ann Rule 2008

  • It seems inevitable that people without access to natural bestand such as oil wells or diamond mines, that they'd turn to the only inventory they do have—their lives.

    Archive 2007-05-01 enowning 2007

  • More and more, the bestand of our era is our own intellectual property.

    Archive 2007-05-01 enowning 2007

  • The problem with seeing the world as bestand, Heidegger said, was it leads you to use things, enslave and exploit things and people, for your own benefit.

    enowning enowning 2007

  • It seems inevitable that people without access to natural bestand such as oil wells or diamond mines, that they'd turn to the only inventory they do have—their lives.

    enowning enowning 2007

  • The problem with seeing the world as bestand, Heidegger said, was it leads you to use things, enslave and exploit things and people, for your own benefit.

    Archive 2007-05-01 enowning 2007

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • Citation at uncleft.

    November 14, 2008