fyrd

American  

[furd] / fɜrd /

noun

1. the militia in Anglo-Saxon England.

2. the duty to serve in this militia.

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fyrd British  

/ faɪəd, fɪəd /

noun

1. history the local militia of an Anglo-Saxon shire, in which all freemen had to serve

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Etymology

Origin of fyrd

< Old English fyrd, fierd, akin to faran to go, fare

Example Sentences

All autumn the West Saxon fyrd waited for the enemy, but in the end "it came to naught more than it had oft erst done."

From Early Britain Anglo-Saxon Britain by Allen, Grant

The other, a smaller and older man, stood entranced while I recited to him that passage of the Saxon Chronicle which begins, "Then came Leija with longships forty-four, and the fyrd went out against him."

From The Man from Archangel and Other Tales of Adventure by Doyle, A. Conan

The king and his witan resolved to send against them a land fyrd and a ship fyrd or raw levy.

From Early Britain Anglo-Saxon Britain by Allen, Grant

The Old English "fyrd," or militia, was the nation in arms.

From Freedom In Service Six Essays on Matters Concerning Britain's Safety and Good Government by Hearnshaw, F. J. C. (Fossey John Cobb)

There rode the king with his fyrd till he reached Badbury against Winburne.

From Early Britain Anglo-Saxon Britain by Allen, Grant