amerce
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to punish by imposing a fine not fixed by statute.
-
to punish by inflicting any discretionary or arbitrary penalty.
verb
-
law to punish by a fine
-
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 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
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
"Nay, but they will hold thee to ransom, and detain thee till it is brought: I heard them amerce thee at a thousand marks."
From The House of Walderne A Tale of the Cloister and the Forest in the Days of the Barons' Wars by Crake, A. D. (Augustine David)
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, Ford Madox
One came whose art men’s dread of are repressed: Mangled and writhing limb he lulled to rest, And stingless left the old Semitic curse; Him, too, for these blest gifts did Zeus amerce?
From Sir James Young Simpson and Chloroform (1811-1870) Masters of Medicine by Gordon, Henry Laing
He was fain, however, to make some Demur, and to Complain, in his usual piteous manner, of being so amerced.
From The Strange Adventures of Captain Dangerous, Vol. 2 Who was a sailor, a soldier, a merchant, a spy, a slave among the moors... by Sala, George Augustus
The person in whose house the conventicle met, was amerced a like sum with the preacher.
From The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.I., Part F. From Charles II. to James II. by Hume, David
Must the time Come thou shalt be amerced for sins unknown, Which were not thine nor mine?
From The Works of Lord Byron. Vol. 5 Poetry by Coleridge, Ernest Hartley
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
A clerk shall not be amerced in respect of his lay holding except after the manner of the others aforesaid; further, he shall not be amerced in accordance with the extent of his ecclesiastical benefice.
From The Magna Carta by Anonymous
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.
