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urd

[oo rd, urd]
noun
  1. a plant, Vigna mungo, of the legume family, widely cultivated in tropical Asia for its edible seeds and for forage.
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Origin of urd

< Hindi urd, urdh, urad, uṛad, Prakrit uḍidda- a pulse
Also called gram, black gram.

Urd

[oo rd]
noun Scandinavian Mythology.
  1. See under Norn.
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Origin of Urd

< Old Norse Urthr, cognate with Old English wyrd (see weird), derivative of the Germanic root of Old Norse vertha to become, German werden; see worth2

Norn2

[nawrn]
noun Scandinavian Mythology.
  1. any of three goddesses of fate, the goddess of the past (Urd), the goddess of the present (Verdandi), and the goddess of the future (Skuld).
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Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for urd

Historical Examples

  • The third root of the ash is in heaven, and beneath it is the most sacred fountain of Urd.

    The Sacred Tree

    J. H. Philpot

  • Their names are Urd (the past), Varande (the present), and Skuld (the future).

  • From Urd comes our word "weird," and the weird sisters of Shakespeare.

    Ten Great Religions

    James Freeman Clarke

  • Out of it come three maids, whose names are Urd, Verdande and Skuld.

  • The king then went to the urd called Skerfsurd, where a road should be cleared.

    Heimskringla

    Snorri Sturlason

British Dictionary definitions for urd

urd

noun
  1. black gramSee gram 2 (def. 1)
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Word Origin

Hindi

Norn1

noun
  1. Norse myth any of the three virgin goddesses of fate, who predestine the lives of the gods and men
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Word Origin

C18: Old Norse

Norn2

noun
  1. the medieval Norse language of the Orkneys, Shetlands, and parts of N Scotland. It was extinct by 1750
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Word Origin

C17: from Old Norse norŕœna Norwegian, from northr north
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 urd

Norn

n.

1770, from Old Norse norn (plural nornir), one of the female fates of Scandinavian mythology, related to Swedish dialectal norna "to warn, to communicate secretly," perhaps ultimately imitative of low murmuring (cf. Middle High German narren "to growl, snarl").

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper