meyne
Middle English
Etymology 1
From Anglo-Norman meine, meignee and Old French mesne, from Vulgar Latin *mānsiōnāta. Compare mansioun.
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /mæi̯ˈneː/, /ˈmæi̯neː/, /ˈmɛːneː/
Noun
meyne (plural meynes)
- A household (family establishment)
- A band (group of people):
- An army or troop; a group of armed men.
- c. 1375, “Book VI”, in Iohne Barbour, De geſtis bellis et uirtutibus domini Roberti de Brwyß […] (The Brus, Advocates MS. 19.2.2), Ouchtirmunſye: Iohannes Ramſay, published 1489, folio 21, recto, lines 435-437; republished at Edinburgh: National Library of Scotland, c. 2010:
- Dowglas h[is] menȝe faſt gan chaß, / And þe flearis þ[air] wayis tays / Till þe caſtell in full gꝛet hy […]
- Douglas's host starts moving fast / while the escapees cut a path / to the castle with incredible haste […]
- A retinue; a band of attendants.
- 1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Manciples Tale”, in The Canterbury Tales, [Westminster: William Caxton, published 1478], →OCLC; republished in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], [London]: […] [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], 1542, →OCLC, folio xcix, recto, column 2:
- That for the tyraunt is of greater might / By force of meyne, to ſlee downe right / And brenne houſe & home, & make al playn, / Lo therfore is he called a capitayne / And for the outlawe hath but ſmal meyne
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- A crowd (large, disordered group)
- An army or troop; a group of armed men.
- A family; a kin group.
- A set of chess pieces.
Related terms
References
- “meinẹ̄, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
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