Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An authoritative command.
  • noun An urgent request.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To promise; vow.
  • noun A vow; a promise.
  • noun A command; precept; mandate.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun That which is willed or ordered; a command; a mandate; an injunction.
  • noun obsolete A vow; a promise.
  • transitive verb obsolete To vow.

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

  • verb obsolete To promise; vow.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an authoritative command or request

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English bihest, vow, from Old English behǣs; see keiə- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old English behǣs ("vow, promise"), from Proto-Germanic *bi (“be-”), *haisiz (“command”), from *haitanan (“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.

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Examples

  • So the idea that Congress passed the NASA authorization act at Griffin's behest is ludricous.

    New NASA Admin Rumors - NASA Watch 2009

  • The fact that the rest of the counrtry begrudges an interstate on-ramp, bridge or courthouse at Bob Byrd’s behest is galling considering how little has been spent on the region in the past.

    Matthew Yglesias » The Case Against Porkbusting 2007

  • An thou pass safely through this period, thou shalt win to high rank and succeed to thy sire’s reign; but an things go otherwise then the behest is with Allah from the beginning to the end thereof.

    The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night 2006

  • He placed on the FPPC's website spreadsheets detailing so-called behest contributions, in which politicians funnel large donations to their pet charities from special interests.

    Home fresnobee.com 2010

  • He placed on the FPPC's website spreadsheets detailing so-called behest contributions, in which politicians funnel large donations to their pet charities from special interests.

    Home fresnobee.com 2010

  • "Now they are saying that the post-mortem report was also doctored at Rathore's behest, which is totally wrong," she said, adding Girhotra did not inform the Panchkula police before taking his daughter to the PGI in Chandigarh.

    Daily News & Analysis 2010

  • GM's Rick Wagoner ostensibly stepped down at the president's "behest," a euphemism for

    chicagotribune.com - 2009

  • Surely acting at the behest of Tehran, the Iraqi Prime Minister ordered the deadly assault.

    Hajar Mojtahedzadeh: Stop the Killings at Camp Ashraf Hajar Mojtahedzadeh 2011

  • Surely acting at the behest of Tehran, the Iraqi Prime Minister ordered the deadly assault.

    Hajar Mojtahedzadeh: Stop the Killings at Camp Ashraf Hajar Mojtahedzadeh 2011

  • While the birthers and state-house hacks obsess over his convoluted neonatal underpinnings, far greater matters percolate at the President's behest.

    Obama's Fake Progressive Birth Certificate 2011

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  • This past year, I burdened the English-speaking world with my very own translation of the New Testament – a project that I undertook at the behest of my editor at Yale University Press, but that I agreed to almost in the instant that it was proposed.

    January 10, 2018