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  1. guerdon love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A reward; recompense.
  2. v. To reward.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. A reward; requital; recompense.
  2. To give a guerdon to; reward.

Wiktionary

  1. n. now literary A reward, prize or recompense for a service; an accolade.
  2. v. transitive To give such a reward to.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. A reward; requital; recompense; -- used in both a good and a bad sense.
  2. v. rare To give guerdon to; to reward; to be a recompense for.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. a reward or payment

Etymologies

  1. From Old French guerdon, from Medieval Latin widerdonum, from West Germanic (whence Old English wiþerlēan), literally ‘again-payment’, with the second element assimilated to Latin donum ("gift"). (Wiktionary)
  2. 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. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “The gods were wroth at so presumptuous an offer, but when they would have indignantly driven the stranger from their presence, Loki urged them to make a bargain which it would be impossible for the stranger to keep, and so they finally told the architect that the guerdon should be his, provided the fortress were finished in the course of a single winter, and that he accomplished the work with no other assistance than that of his horse Svadilfare.”

    Myths of the Norsemen From the Eddas and Sagas

  • “The 13-year-old boy aced "guerdon" to win the 81st edition of the bee, held in the nation's capital.”

    The Wall Street Journal: Meet the Bees

  • ““Then dirt and weather-beat shall be your guerdon of honour,””

    Chapter 39

  • “Thanks to the school of scientific philosophers he favored, he knew the biological significance of love; but by a refined process of the same scientific reasoning he reached the conclusion that the human organism achieved its highest purpose in love, that love must not be questioned, but must be accepted as the highest guerdon of life.”

    Chapter 23

  • “The winning words in recent competitions have included: pococurante; autochthonous; appoggiatura; ursprache; serrefine; guerdon; Laodicean.”

    Archive 2010-06-01

  • “Lors des championnats les plus récents, les mots qui ont permis aux gagnants de remporter la victoire ont été pococurante, autochthonous, appoggiatura, ursprache, serrefine, guerdon et Laodicean.”

    Archive 2010-07-01

  • “Constructing new legislation is always difficult, but I propose a simple starting point for immigration selection: Anyone who can spell guerdon is in!”

    Forbes: Indian Americans: The New Model Minority

  • “When Sameer Mishra correctly spelled guerdon last May to win the 2008 Scripps National Spelling Bee, he became the sixth Indian-American winner in the past 10 years.”

    Forbes: Indian Americans: The New Model Minority

  • “People also gathered round this silver-and-nickel-alloy guerdon to meet its guardian: Mike Bolt.”

    The Magazine: Culture and Celebrity

  • “Thus the Count and Countess had an opportunity to estimate the happiness and the felicity reserved for those slaves, whom the Omnipotent Jupiter, in the plenitude of compassion for their state, and in guerdon of their good morals, had dedicated to the service of a philosopher.”

    Count Robert of Paris

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synonyms (3)

Words with the same meaning

  1. reward
  1. requital
  1. recompense

hypernyms (1)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. reward

same context (11)

Words that are found in similar contexts

  1. emolument
  2. recompense
  1. indemnification
  2. remuneration
  1. gratuity
  2. meed
  1. reimbursement
  2. emprise
  1. dower
  2. stipend
  1. opportunityto

reverse dictionary (7)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. gardon
  1. guerdon
  1. guerdonless
  1. guerdonable
  1. warison
  1. crown
  1. reward

tags (6)

Free-form, user-generated categorization

  1. obsolete
  1. cvvccvc
  1. spelling bee winner
  1. gue
  1. spellingbeewinner_2008
  1. spellingbeewinner

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Lists

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Comments

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  • rolig Of all tales 't is the saddest – and more sad,
    Because it makes us smile: his hero 's right,
    And stil pursues the right; – to curb the bad
    His only object, and 'gainst odds to fight
    His guerdon: 't is his virtue makes him mad!
    But his adventures form a sorry sight;
    A sorrier still is the great moral taught
    By that real epic unto all who have thought.
    – Byron, Don Juan, Canto 13 (about Don Quixote, aka Don Kwix-oat) Apr 21, 2013

  • bilby "How could anyone look at the happiness of the Beverley sisters, dolled up for the palace, and propose to snatch their prize away? Why be so cruel, when they have sung so lustily and for so long, and so well deserved their tinny guerdon?"
    - Boris Johnson, 'Elect the Lords -- and stop our gongs going for a song', Daily Telegraph, 29 March 2002. Nov 24, 2008

  • fio_smiles Origin:

    "reward, recompense" (now only poetic), 1366, from Old French. guerdon, from Medieval Latin. widerdonum, from Old High German widarlon (reward);

    From: http://www.etymonline.com/abbr.php Jun 13, 2008

  • oroboros "Something one has earned or gained." The winning word for the 2008 Scripps National Spelling Bee competition. May 31, 2008

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‘guerdon’ has been looked up 2526 times, added to 24 lists, commented on 5 times, and has a Scrabble score of 9.