Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Personal service or attendance; homage.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Obs. or Scots Law Homage or service rendered to a superior, as to a lord; vassalage.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun mythology primal substance of the Universe
  • noun Homage.
  • noun Vassals collectively; the supply of men a lord can called upon in time of warfare.
  • noun The position of leader among fighting men; the conduct (of an army).
  • noun rare Carnal intercourse.
  • noun Scotland The solemn undertaking to be one's faithful supporter, and the obligation so constituted.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English manred, manrede, from Old English manrǣden ("dependence, homage, service, tribute, due"), equivalent to man +‎ -red.

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Examples

  • Þa was þe eorl under {} fangen æt Wincestre ⁊ æt lundene mid micel wurtscipe. ⁊ alle diden hi {m} manred. ⁊ suoren þe pais to halden. ⁊ hit ward sone suythe god pais. sua ð neure was here.

    Selections from early Middle English, 1130-1250 Part I: Texts Joseph Hall

  • Hi hadden hi {m} manred maked ⁊ athes suoren. ac hi nan treuthe ne heolden. alle he wæron for {} sworen and here treothes for {} loren. for æuric riceman his castles makede ⁊ agænes hi {m} heolden. ⁊ fylden þe land ful of castles.

    Selections from early Middle English, 1130-1250 Part I: Texts Joseph Hall

  • And therefore wee are to understande that Phillippe rather governeth in the West Indies by opinion, then by mighte; ffor the small manred of Spaine, of itself being alwayes at the best slenderly peopled, was never able to rule so many regions, or to kepe in subjection such worldes of people as be there, were it not for the error of the Indian people, that thincke he is that he is not, and that doe ymagine that Phillippe hath a thousande Spaniardes for every single naturall subjecte that he hath there.

    The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation. Vol. XIII. America. Part II. Richard Hakluyt 1584

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  • See manrent. Also in OED:

    1. In the 16th and 17th centuries chiefly Sc. The state or condition of subordination or subjection to another; homage, vassalage, the undertaking or obligation of a vassal to support a patron faithfully; = MANRENT n. 1. Freq. in to do (also make, take) manred. Obs.

    2. Feudal Law. The service or payment rendered by a tenant to an owner. rare. Now hist.

    3. a. Vassals collectively, a body of retainers; the men whom a lord could call upon in time of war; = MANRENT n. 2. Hence gen.: a supply of men for military purposes. In the 16th and 17th centuries chiefly Sc. Now hist.

    b. The position of leader of a body of fighting men; the leadership of a body of retainers. Obs.

    August 14, 2008