Obs. [OE. stefnan, stæfnan, f. stefn, STEVEN sb.2 Cf. ON. stefna.]
1. intr. In OE.: To alternate, take turns. Cf. STEVEN sb.2 1.
c. 725. Corpus Gloss., 126. Alternantium staefnendra.
2. trans. To appoint, constitute.
a. 1000. Cædmon’s Gen., 160. Frea enʓla heht þurh his word wesan wæter ʓemæne, þa nu under roderum heora ryne healdað stowe ʓestefnde.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 310. ‘Pepigimus cum morte fedus, et cum inferno pactum iniuimus:’ þet is, we habbeð trouðe ipluht deaðe, & foreward istefned mid helle.
c. 1440. York Myst., xxiii. 64. Lord God! I loue þe … Þat me, thy poure prophett Hely, Haue steuened me in þis stede to stande.
3. To summon. [After ON. stefna.]
a. 1122. O. E. Chron. (Laud MS.), an. 1048. Þa hi þider ut comon þa stefnede heom man to ʓe mote. Ibid., an. 1093. And se cing Willelm him steofnode to Gloweceastre.
4. To specify, state.
c. 1425. ? Lydg., Assembly of Gods, 824. A crane on hys hede stood, hys crest for to steuyn.
c. 1440. Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1903), 143. In Rome Y shall ȝou steuene An honþred kyrkes fowrty and seuen.
5. dial. (See quots.)
1674. Ray, N. C. Words, To Stein or steven; idem [i.e., to bespeak a thing].
1828. Carr, Craven Gloss., Stevven, to order, to bespeak.
Hence † Stevening vbl. sb., appointment.
13[?]. in Wright, Lyric P., xiv. 46. Of treuthe nis the trechour noht Bote he habbe is wille ywroht At stevenyng umbestounde.
