guerdon

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments (4)  · 
“
The King has published a ban in every parish: Whosoever may seize you shall receive a hundred marks of gold for his guerdon, and all the barons have sworn to give you up alive or dead.

View all »
Definitions (7)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun A reward; recompense.
  2. transitive verb To reward.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (2)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

  • Your guerdon is His smile--is it not enough?--and your home shall be within His house for ever Ay!" —  Clare Avery A Story of the Spanish Armada
  • Such guerdon is theirs who dare to tempt my sword; thus do they found their city.' —  The Aeneid of Virgil
  • None receive the guerdon, save those who have won the goal A pause in the girl's reverie--caused by a light sound that broke the perfect quietness around. —  Olive A Novel
  • He had just finished his second dinner, and for the guerdon of companionship with the charming and gracious girl whom fate had figuratively thrown into his arms he would cheerfully have tackled a third meal without any personal qualms as to subsequent indigestion But, joking apart, he was married. —  One Wonderful Night A Romance of New York
  • For, though the good may have their reward elsewhere, it is beyond doubt that, if public interest is any guerdon, the bad get it on earth Show me a really bad man--dark-complexioned, with well-cut clothes and a black moustache--and I will show you a hero; a hero a little distorted, it is true, but not much the less heroic for that. —  Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 159, 1920-11-17
More examples »
 

Tags

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 79 times.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Add a related word »
Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Old French, from Medieval Latin widerdōnum, alteration (influenced by Latin dōnum, gift) of Old High German widarlōn : widar, back, against; see wi- in Indo-European roots + lōn, reward; see lau- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English guerdon, guerdoun, gardone, gardwyne, etc., from Old French guerdon, guerredon, guarredon, guierdon, guirdon, werdon, etc., = Provencal guierdon = Italian guidardone, guiderdone, from Middle Latin widerdonum, a reward; an ingenious alteration, simulating Latin donum, a gift, of the expected *widerlonum, from Old High German widarlōn (= Anglo-Saxon witherleán), a reward, from widar (= Anglo-Saxon wither), against, back again (see withernam), + lōn (= Anglo-Saxon leán), reward.
  2. from Middle English guerdonen, guerdounen, gardonen, from Old French guerdonner, guerredoner, guerdoner, werdoner, etc., = Provencal guiardoner = Italian guidardonare, guiderdonare; from the noun.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »
/ˈgərdən/
by American Heritage

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word several times a year.

Recently looked up

ding-dong · smarted · kimono · cute · moll

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

mamaroneck · maladministration · antidisestablishmentarianism · parsimonious · soliloquy