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:
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 Cary, Henry
Worst of all was Davie Graham, for having his hands upon the fines, he desired above all to amerce Gilbert Wilson, the tenant of Glen Vernock in the parish of Peninghame.
From The Men of the Moss-Hags Being a history of adventure taken from the papers of William Gordon of Earlstoun in Galloway by Crockett, S. R. (Samuel Rutherford)
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 Cary, Henry
But ile amerce you with so strong a fine, That you shall all repent the losse of mine.
From Shakespeare in the Theatre by Poel, William
But Plato here, O Athenians! and Crito Critobulus, and Apollodorus bid me amerce myself in thirty minæ, and they offer to be sureties.
From Apology, Crito, and Phaedo of Socrates by Cary, Henry
On October 4, 1605, the Commissioners of the Sewers amerced him for the Rose, but return was made that it was then "out of his hands."
From Shakespearean Playhouses A History of English Theatres from the Beginnings to the Restoration by Adams, Joseph Quincy
The fines are so numerous that it almost appears that every person on the estate was amerced from time to time.
From A Short History of English Agriculture by Curtler, W. H. R. (William Henry Ricketts)
“On the contrary,” answered he, “I am greatly obliged to him, for he has amerced me in a fine which I can pay without borrowing, or taking up money at interest.”
From The Academic Questions, Treatise De Finibus, and Tusculan Disputations, of M.T. Cicero, With a Sketch of the Greek Philosophers Mentioned by Cicero by Yonge, Charles Duke
Disputed prisoners were to be placed in the hands of the warden, and the party found ultimately wrong to be amerced in a fine of ten pounds.
From Border Raids and Reivers by Borland, Robert
Long that eve, The brethren grieved, noting his vacant stall, Yet thus excused their sadness: 'Well for him, And high his place in heaven; but woe to those Henceforth of services like his amerced!
From Legends of the Saxon Saints by De Vere, Aubrey
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 Simms, William Gilmore
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
