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In Return of the Jedi, the villain Darth Vader speaks with an old-timey flair when he asks his boss, the Emperor, for instructions: “What is thy bidding, my master?” If the film’s screenwriters wanted him to sound even more old-timey, however, they could have chosen to have him ask “What is thy behest?” As a word for a command or order, behest predates bidding in English by a couple centuries, dating all the way back—long, long ago, though still in this galaxy—to the 1100s. Its Old English ancestor, the noun behǣs, referred to a promise, a meaning that continued on in Middle English especially in the phrase “the land of behest” but is now obsolete. The “command” sense of behest is still in good use, typically referring to an authoritative order, whether from an emperor or some other high-ranking figure. Behest is now also used with a less forceful meaning; it can refer to an urgent prompting, as in “an anniversary showing of classic films at the behest of the franchise’s fans.”
Examples of behest in a Sentence
Arkansas Online, 2 Sep. 2025
Some directly correlate to current and future projections in alignment with the nation's economic climate, while others are company-specific and conducted to maximize profits at the behest of the workforce.
—Nick Mordowanec, MSNBC Newsweek, 1 Sep. 2025
There isn’t definitive evidence that Burns engaged in monetary expansion at the behest of Nixon, but the macroeconomic fallout of the policy is clearer.
—Ryan Hogg, CNN Money, 29 Aug. 2025
By nightfall, guests will be treated to a lavish dinner at Willow & Ivy—the hotel’s main restaurant—that’s centered largely around lobster, with five elegant courses crafted at the behest of Executive Chef Daniel Kenney.
—Jared Ranahan, Forbes.com, 21 Aug. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Behest.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/behest. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.
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behest
noun
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