'~Biheste~, _sb_. promise; "dusi _biheste_" a foolish
promise, (extract from) Ancren Riwle, l. 19; "and wel lute wule hulde
þe _biheste_ þat he nom," (extract from) Robert of Gloucester,
l. 184; "holdeth your _bìheste_," Chaucer, Introd. to Man of
Law's Prologue, l. 37; "_biheste_ is dette," same, l. 41; "al my
_biheste_" same, l. 42; "or breken his _biheste_" Chaucer,
sequel to Squieres Tale, l. 698; "þorw fals _biheste_," Piers
Plowman, Text B, Pass. iii, l. 126; "to vol-vulle (fulfil) þat
_byheste_" Trevisa (extract from), lib. vi. cap. 29, l. 25; "the
lond of promyssioun, or of _beheste_," Prol. to Mandeville's
Travels, l. 3; "wiþ fair _by-hest_," William and the Werwolf,
l. 57; "þe _byhest_ (promise, _or_ grant) of oþere menne
kyngdom," Trevisa, lib. vi. cap. 29, l. 9; "y schal sende the
_biheest_ of my fadir in-to 3*ou," Wyclif, Luke xxiv. 49; "not bi
the lawe is _biheest_ to Abraham," Wycl. Rom. iv. 13; "whanne the
_biheestis_ weren not takun," Wycl. Heb. xi. 13; "longenge to
godes _bihese_" Old Eng. Homilies, Dominica iv. post Pascha,
l. 55.'

We thus obtain fifteen excellent examples of the use of this word,
with the full context and an exact reference (easily verified) in
every case. And, in the above instance, all the quotations lie within
the compass of the eleven texts in the Clarendon Press Series denoted,
respectively, by S, S2, S3, C, C2, C3, W, W2, P, H, and G.

The original design was to make use of these text-books only; but it
was so easy to extend it by including examples to be obtained from
other Glossaries and Dictionaries, that a considerable selection of
interesting words was added from these, mainly for the sake of
illustrating the words in the Clarendon text-books. These illustrative