"'d best" meaning in English

See 'd best in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Etymology: Shortening of had best. Head templates: {{head|en|verb}} 'd best
  1. (modal, auxiliary verb, colloquial) Had best. Tags: auxiliary, colloquial, modal
    Sense id: en-'d_best-en-verb-z9PRyJ1a Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries
{
  "etymology_text": "Shortening of had best.",
  "head_templates": [
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
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        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
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      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "It's getting late. You'd best get on home.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1874, “Rattletrap Rhymes, No. 47, The Blighted Clerk and the Cruel Millner”, in Judy, Or the London Serio-comic Journal, volume 15, page 199:",
          "text": "“This career you'd best be ending, And your ways you'd best be mending\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2013, Bret Anthony Johnston, “Encounters with Unexpected Animals”, in Elizabeth Strout, Heidi Pitlor, editors, The Best American Short Stories 2013, page 93:",
          "text": "She'd come over for supper this evening, and though she volunteered to help Robbie and his mother with the dishes, Lambright had said he'd best deliver her home, it being a school night.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2020, Fergus Hume, The Wooden Hand, page 168:",
          "text": "“I guess,” said Horace at this point, “you'd best speak civil of Miss Strode. I'm not taking any insolence this day.”",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Had best."
      ],
      "id": "en-'d_best-en-verb-z9PRyJ1a",
      "links": [
        [
          "Had best",
          "had best"
        ]
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(modal, auxiliary verb, colloquial) Had best."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "auxiliary",
        "colloquial",
        "modal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "'d best"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "Shortening of had best.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "verb"
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      "expansion": "'d best",
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  "lang_code": "en",
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        "English irregular verbs",
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        "English modal verbs",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "English verbs",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
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      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "It's getting late. You'd best get on home.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1874, “Rattletrap Rhymes, No. 47, The Blighted Clerk and the Cruel Millner”, in Judy, Or the London Serio-comic Journal, volume 15, page 199:",
          "text": "“This career you'd best be ending, And your ways you'd best be mending\"",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2013, Bret Anthony Johnston, “Encounters with Unexpected Animals”, in Elizabeth Strout, Heidi Pitlor, editors, The Best American Short Stories 2013, page 93:",
          "text": "She'd come over for supper this evening, and though she volunteered to help Robbie and his mother with the dishes, Lambright had said he'd best deliver her home, it being a school night.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2020, Fergus Hume, The Wooden Hand, page 168:",
          "text": "“I guess,” said Horace at this point, “you'd best speak civil of Miss Strode. I'm not taking any insolence this day.”",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Had best."
      ],
      "links": [
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(modal, auxiliary verb, colloquial) Had best."
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  "word": "'d best"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-03-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-02-21 using wiktextract (7c21d10 and f2e72e5). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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