amerce
Americanverb (used with object)
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to punish by imposing a fine not fixed by statute.
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to punish by inflicting any discretionary or arbitrary penalty.
verb
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law to punish by a fine
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to punish with any arbitrary penalty
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of amerce
1250–1300; Middle English amercy < Anglo-French amerci ( er ) to fine, representing ( estre ) a merci (to be) at (someone's) mercy. See a- 5, mercy
Explanation
To amerce is to impose a fine on someone as punishment. During the Middle Ages, the King might amerce you if you trespassed on his land to retrieve a lost ball. The word amerce was more common in medieval times, although it's still used in a legal context, along with amercement. Today when a court amerces someone, it legally orders them to pay a fine after finding them guilty of wrongdoing. The word comes from the French a merci, or "at the mercy," referring to the fact that a person facing amercement is at the mercy of the court.
Vocabulary lists containing amerce
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The words achieve, agree, amerce, amount, acquit, acquaint, avow, &c. show the same prefix, derived through the medium of Old French.
From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various
In your greatness ye shall change it; with your justice ye shall purify it; with your clemencies ye should it chasten and amerce.
From Privy Seal His Last Venture by Ford Madox Ford
But perhaps I could pay you a mina of silver: in that sum, then, I amerce myself.
From Apology, Crito, and Phaedo of Socrates by Henry Cary
Searching those edges of the universe, We leave the central fields a fallow part; To feed the eye more precious things amerce, And starve the darkened heart.
From Poems by Jean Ingelow, In Two Volumes, Volume I. by Jean Ingelow
I amerce myself, then, to you in that sum; and they will be sufficient sureties for the money.
From Apology, Crito, and Phaedo of Socrates by Henry Cary
All those suspected of illegal profits at the time the public delusion was at its height, were sought out and amerced in heavy fines.
From Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions — Volume 1 by Charles Mackay
In 1557 he was elected ale-taster, and curiously enough he was amerced for not keeping his gutters clean, in company with Francis Harbage, Chief Bailiff, Adrian Quyney, Mr. Hall, and Mr. Clopton.
From Shakespeare's Family by C. C. (Charlotte Carmichael) Stopes
I have been thrust into prison, and amerced in a heavy fine.
From Thoughts on African Colonization by William Lloyd Garrison
"Come, master-surgeon, mend it for me; Though I would it were changed for the nails that amerced The dying thief upon Calvary."
From Collected Poems Volume Two by Alfred Noyes
If he attempts to infringe the law, the neighbors take up his case; he is amerced, often to the extent of several sheep or cows, and these become the absolute property of the wife.
From Oriental Women by Edward Bagby Pollard
One of their measures has been questioned as unwise and impolitic—that, namely, for amercing and confiscating the estates of certain of the loyalists, and for banishing the most obnoxious among them.
From The Life of Francis Marion by William Gilmore Simms
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