messuage

[ mes-wij ]

nounLaw.

a dwelling house with its adjacent buildings and the lands appropriated to the use of the household.

Origin of messuage

1350–1400; Middle English <Anglo-French, misreading (n taken as u) of Old French mesnage ménage

Words Nearby messuage

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use messuage in a sentence

This is very suggestive of a law-writer's spelling of "message" (messuage and tenement).
The Identification of the Writer of the Anonymous Letter to Lord Monteagle in 1605 | William Parker
The ancient great hall of this messuage is yet standing, and pertaining to a great brewhouse for beer.
The Survey of London | John Stow
On the other hand, a poor woman holds a messuage, and need do no more than carry water to the mowers.
Villainage in England | Paul Vinogradoff
He'll fancy dancers cattle, and present his lady with messuage and tenement.
Character Writings of the 17th Century | Various
Reginald Cobham gave his messuage in London to the enlarging thereof, in the year 1344.
The Survey of London | John Stow

British Dictionary definitions for messuage

messuage

/ (ˈmɛswɪdʒ) /

noun

property law a dwelling house together with its outbuildings, curtilage, and the adjacent land appropriated to its use

Origin of messuage

C14: from Norman French: household, perhaps through misspelling of Old French mesnage ménage

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

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