meed
Americannoun
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.
Ewan says "he mewed and he cried, and in the end, he got out and came home under his own steam."
From Salon • May 22, 2023
The poor creature mewed and yowled so piteously that he could not help feeling sorry for it.
From Washington Post • Aug. 12, 2022
A pair of kittens mewed in the corner, and a rabbit sat in a cage on the counter.
From New York Times • Feb. 3, 2022
“Oh—can I help you?” he says in response to the small alien’s mewed greeting.
From Time • Apr. 29, 2016
Dustfinger mewed in so lifelike a fashion that several cats answered, but nothing moved behind the window.
From "Inkheart" by Cornelia Funke
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.
