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Webster 1913 Edition


Meed

Meed

(mēd)
,
Noun.
[OE.
mede
, AS.
mēd
,
meord
; akin to OS.
mēda
, OHG.
miata
,
mieta
, G.
miethe
hire, Goth.
mizdō
reward, Bohem. & Russ.
mzda
, Gr.
μισθός
, Skr.
mīdha
. √276.]
1.
That which is bestowed or rendered in consideration of merit; reward; recompense.
A rosy garland was the victor’s
meed
.
Spenser.
2.
Merit or desert; worth.
My
meed
hath got me fame.
Shakespeare
3.
A gift; also, a bride.
[Obs.]
Chaucer.

Meed

,
Verb.
T.
1.
To reward; to repay.
[Obs.]
Waytt.
2.
To deserve; to merit.
[Obs.]
Heywood.

Webster 1828 Edition


Meed

MEED

, n.
1.
Reward; recompense; that which is bestowed or rendered in consideration of merit.
Thanks to men
Of noble minds is honorable meed.
2.
A gift or present. [Not used.]

Definition 2024


Meed

Meed

See also: meed

Dutch

Alternative forms

Noun

Meed m (plural Meden)

  1. Mede, Median

meed

meed

See also: Meed

English

Noun

meed (plural meeds)

  1. (now literary, archaic) A payment or recompense made for services rendered or in recognition of some achievement; reward, deserts; award.
    • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.i:
      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.
    • 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.
  2. A gift; bribe.
  3. (dated) Merit or desert; worth.
Quotations
  • For usage examples of this term, see Citations:meed.
Derived terms

Etymology 2

From Middle English meden, from Old English *mēdian (to reward, bribe), from Proto-Germanic *mizdōną (to meed), from Proto-Indo-European *mizdʰ- (to pay). Cognate with Middle Low German mēden (to reward), German mieten (to reward).

Verb

meed (third-person singular simple present meeds, present participle meeding, simple past and past participle meeded)

  1. (transitive) To reward; bribe.
  2. (transitive) To deserve; merit.

Anagrams


Dutch

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -eːt

Verb

meed

  1. singular past indicative of mijden

Anagrams


Plautdietsch

Adjective

meed

  1. tired, fagged
    hee wia sea meed
    he was very tired

Antonyms

Derived terms

  • äwameed (overtired)
  • huntmeed (dog-tired)

See also

  • schleeprich (sleepy)
  • hoojoonen (to sigh, to yawn)
  • enoolent (tired of, sick of)
  • kjnirr (weary)