mesne
Americanadjective
adjective
-
intermediate or intervening: used esp of any assignment of property before the last
a mesne assignment
-
rents or profits accruing during the rightful owner's exclusion from his land
Etymology
Origin of mesne
1350–1400; Middle English < Anglo-French, spelling variant of meen mean 3
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.
Bail in civil matters, since the abolition of arrest on mesne process, is virtually extinct.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 2 "Baconthorpe" to "Bankruptcy" by Various
Persons holding directly from the king and granting to others were the king’s tenants in capite, and were the mesne lords of their tenants.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 7 "Equation" to "Ethics" by Various
He saw that Colonel Clifford would extort not only Walter's legacy, but what the lawyers call the mesne profits, that is to say, the interest and the various proceeds from the fraud during fourteen years.
From A Perilous Secret by Reade, Charles
Of this he had apprized Sir Robert, who had persisted, nevertheless, in holding possession, and in his claim for the mesne rents.
From Tales and Novels — Volume 08 by Edgeworth, Maria
They'll probably, ere long, find their way in that direction—for how," replied Mr. Quirk, "he's ever to make up, poor devil, the mesne profits"—— "Mean profits?—is that all you call them, gents?
From Ten Thousand a-Year. Volume 1. by Warren, Samuel
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.
