biheste

• beheste, be-heste, be-heyste, biheest, biheeste, bi-hest, byheeste, by-heste
• behese, bihæste, biheaste (Early Middle English)

From Old English behǣs (“vow”), from Proto-West Germanic *bihaisi; equivalent to bi- +‎ heste (“directive”). The final vowel is generalised from the Old English oblique forms, while forms with final /t/ are influenced by the suffix -the.

• IPA^(key): /biˈhɛst(ə)/, /biˈhɛ̝ːst(ə)/

biheste (plural bihestes)

1. A pact or agreement; that which is agreed upon.
   • c. 1390, [William Langland], “Paſſus scdu͞s de dobeſt”, in Peres plouhman (X, C-text), southwest Worcestershire, published c. 1395, folio 103, recto; republished as MS. HM 143, San Marino, CA: Huntingdon Digital Library, p. 2011:

     He baer a bowe ın hıs hoend and many brode arwes / Weren fythered w^t fayre bıheſte and many a fals treuthe

     He held a bow in his hand and many broad arrows / [which] were feathered with fine agreement[s] and many a false truth […]

2. (uncommon) A directive; a command or request.

• English: behest
• Middle Scots: behest, beheist

• “bihēst(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.