meed

noun
/miːd/US

Etymology

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 Meed (“rent”), German Miete (“rent”), Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌶𐌳𐍉 (mizdō, “meed, reward, payment, recompense”); further Ancient Greek μισθός (misthós, “wage”), Old Church Slavonic мьзда (mĭzda, “reward”), Sanskrit मीळ्ह (mīḷhá), Sanskrit मीढ (mīḍhá), Avestan 𐬨𐬍𐬲𐬛𐬀 (mīžda).

  1. derived from *mey- — “to exchange
  2. inherited from *misdʰós
  3. inherited from *mizdō
  4. inherited from *miʀdu
  5. inherited from mēd
  6. inherited from meede

Definitions

  1. A payment or recompense made for services rendered or in recognition of some achievement

    A payment or recompense made for services rendered or in recognition of some achievement; reward; award.

    • 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.
    • 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.
    • 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.
  2. A gift

    A gift; bribe.

  3. Merit

    Merit; worth.

    • […]my meed hath got me fame:[…]
    • In any case, his life would be in ignominy and would be brief, and he would have lost irretrievably the meed of valour.
  4. + 2 more definitions
    1. To reward

      To reward; bribe.

    2. To deserve

      To deserve; merit.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for meed. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA