meed
Americannoun
-
meeds
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of meed
before 900; Middle English mede, Old English mēd; cognate with German Miete hire; akin to Old English meord, Gothic mizdō, Greek misthós reward
Explanation
A meed is a well-deserved compensation or reward. At a birthday party, every guest hopes to gather his or her meed of candy from the piñata they've worked so hard to smash open. The noun meed is a very old fashioned way to talk about a payment or share of something. You're most likely to come across it in older books, but you might want to use it to describe the way your grandmother manages to give each of her twelve grandchildren a meed of her attention and love. Meed comes from the Old English root mēd, which has a Proto-Indo-European root in common with the Greek misthos, or "reward."
Vocabulary lists containing meed
Frankenstein
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Jane Eyre
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As You Like It
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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:
"I would deny no meed of praise or thanks."
From Time Magazine Archive
Whoever wins or loses, the donor gets his meed of personal advertising and public acclaim.
From Time Magazine Archive
During the nine-day period between the King's death and his burial, most Britons had had their meed of public grief.
From Time Magazine Archive
Nancy made a flat cake of white flour with a sprinkling of sugar on top, and Jenny pulled tender radishes and onions from her garden to give the taste of spring to their meed.
From "Across Five Aprils" by Irene Hunt
Her prime is full of strenuous deed That shames our own in generous meed Of work for other's good.
From The Optimist's Good Morning by Florence Hobart Perin
On board, Lindsea Wilbur, 24, was the epitome of vintage meeds modern.
From Forbes ● Jul. 15, 2014
The bay, quoth she, is of the victours born, Yielded them by the vanquisht as theyr meeds, And they therewith doe poetes heads adorne, To sing the glory of their famous deeds.
From The Poetical Works of Edmund Spenser, Volume 5 by Edmund Spenser
Past—with all its mighty deeds, Nature claims its choicest meeds; Present—with portentous calm, Nature claims its chiefest palm; Future—ah! she trembles there, Nature quivers in despair.
From The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 19, No. 551, June 9, 1832 by Various
Beneath it in the same proud resting place, The sons fixed theirs with other warlike meeds, To prove their martial line had known nor break nor fall.
From Rowena & Harold A Romance in Rhyme of an Olden Time, of Hastyngs and Normanhurst by William Stephen Pryer
Thou who for sweet life saved such meeds art lief of returning!
From The Carmina of Caius Valerius Catullus by Sir Richard Francis Burton
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
