Sc. Also 8 sten (9 stenn). [Of obscure origin; perh. identical with prec.] intr. To leap, bound, spring up. Of an animal: To rear, be restive.
1560. Rolland, Seven Sages, 296. Incontinent thay stendit on thair steidis.
1567. Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.), 109. Quhat gart ȝow montanis lyke rammis stert and stend?
a. 1724. Ramsay’s Tea-t. Misc. (1729), 16. The Lover he stended up in haste And gript her hard about the Waste.
1786. Burns, To Auld Mare, xiv. Thou never lap, an’ sten’t, an’ breastet.
1804. R. Couper, Poetry, I. 112. Athort the field, wi’ wildest pranks, Th’ unwieldly oussen stenn.
1824. Scott, Redgauntlet, let. xi. The nag begin to spring, and flee, and stend, that my gudesire could hardly keep the saddle.
1890. J. Service, Thir Notandums, xix. 124. I was like to reist and to sten’ at the doctor’s orders.
transf. and fig. 1721. Ramsay, Concl., 34. My Saul to higher Pitch cou’d sten.
1893. Stevenson, Catriona, xv. The lassies were bits o’ young things, wi’ the reid life dinnling and stending in their members.
