mesne

[meen]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR mesne ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective Law.

intermediate or intervening.

Origin of mesne

1350–1400; Middle English < Anglo-French, spelling variant of meen mean³

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for mesne

householder, feudatory, landlady

Examples from the Web for mesne

Historical Examples of mesne

And what's he to start with, if there's no mesne profits forthcoming?
Ten Thousand a-Year (Vol. 2)
Samuel Warren
The mesne profits you have received and appropriated since Squire Trevlyn's death.
Trevlyn Hold
Mrs. Henry Wood
And it's not only what Mr. Aubrey will lose, but what he will be liable to—the mesne profits—sixty thousand pounds.
Ten Thousand a-Year (Vol. 2)
Samuel Warren
It is very painful for me to mention the subject, Mr. Aubrey; but have you adverted to the mesne profits?
Ten Thousand a-Year (Vol. 2)
Samuel Warren
Resigned to accept position of Register of Mesne Conveyances, a very important office which he held for several years.
The Journal of Negro History, Volume 5, 1920
Various

British Dictionary definitions for mesne

mesne

adjective law

intermediate or intervening: used esp of any assignment of property before the lasta mesne assignment

mesne profits rents or profits accruing during the rightful owner's exclusion from his land

Word Origin for mesne

C15: from legal French meien in the middle, mean ³

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for mesne

adj.

mid-15c., "mean;" altered spelling (by French influence) of Anglo-French meen "mean" (Old French meien "middle;" see mean (adj.); also cf. demesne).