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meed. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
meed, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
meed in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
meed you have here. The definition of the word
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meed, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Middle English meede, mede, from Old English mēd, meord, meard, meorþ (“meed, reward, pay, price, compensation, bribe”), from Proto-West Germanic *miʀdu, from Proto-Germanic *mizdō (“meed”), from Proto-Indo-European *misdʰéh₂, from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“to exchange”).
Cognate with obsolete Dutch miede (“wages”), Low German mede (“payment, wages, reward”), German Miete (“rent”), Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌶𐌳𐍉 (mizdō, “meed, reward, payment, recompense”), Ancient Greek μισθός (misthós, “wage”), Old Church Slavonic мьзда (mĭzda, “reward”), Sanskrit मीळ्ह (mīḷhá), Sanskrit मीढ (mīḍhá), Avestan 𐬨𐬍𐬲𐬛𐬀 (mīžda).
Noun
meed (plural meeds)
- (now literary, archaic) A payment or recompense made for services rendered or in recognition of some achievement; reward, deserts; award.
1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IIII, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. , part II (books IV–VI), London: [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza 6, page 6:For well ſhe wiſt,as true it was indeed / That her liues Lord and patrone of her health / Right well deſerued as his duefull meed, / Her loue,her ſeruice,and her vtmoſt wealth.
1801, Robert Southey, “(please specify the page)”, in Thalaba the Destroyer, volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), London: or T N Longman and O Rees, , by Biggs and Cottle, , →OCLC:Brought up in darkness, and the child of sin,
Yet, as the meed of spotless innocence,
Just Heaven permitted her by one good deed
To work her own redemption, after death.
1829, Andrew Jackson, First Annual Message to Congress:Public gratitude, therefore, stamps her seal upon it, and the meed should not be withheld which may here after operate as a stimulus to our gallant tars.
- 1880, translation by Richard Francis Burton of Os Lusiadas, Canto IX, stanza 93 by Luís de Camões
- Better to merit and the meed to miss,
than, lacking merit, every meed possess.
- A gift; bribe.
- (dated) Merit or desert; worth.
c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, ”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 167, column 2:[…] my meed hath got me fame: […]
- 1934, Abdullah Yusuf Ali, Commentary on The Holy Qur'an, note 3687 on 33:16:
- In any case, his life would be in ignominy and would be brief, and he would have lost irretrievably the meed of valour.
Quotations
Derived terms
Etymology 2
From Middle English meden, from Old English *mēdian (“to reward, bribe”), from Proto-Germanic *mizdōną (“to reward”), from Proto-Indo-European *misdʰ- (“to pay”). Cognate with Middle Low German mēden (“to reward”), German mieten (“to rent”).
Verb
meed (third-person singular simple present meeds, present participle meeding, simple past and past participle meeded)
- (transitive) To reward; bribe.
- (transitive) To deserve; merit.
See also
Anagrams
Central Franconian
Adjective
meed
- Alternative spelling of med
Dutch
Pronunciation
Verb
meed
- singular past indicative of mijden
Anagrams
Estonian
Noun
meed
- nominative plural of mesi
Middle English
Etymology 1
Noun
meed
- Alternative form of mede (“mead (beverage)”)
Etymology 2
Noun
meed
- Alternative form of mede (“meadow”)
Etymology 3
Noun
meed
- Alternative form of mede (“reward”)
Plautdietsch
Etymology
From Middle Low German möde, from Old Saxon mōthi, from Proto-West Germanic *mōþī.
Adjective
meed
- tired, weary, fatigued, fagged
- hee wia sea meed
- he was very tired
Antonyms
Derived terms
See also
Further reading