Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A man of high rank in a feudal society or in one that retains feudal forms and institutions, especially.
  • noun A king.
  • noun A territorial magnate.
  • noun The proprietor of a manor.
  • noun The House of Lords.
  • noun Chiefly British The general masculine title of nobility and other rank.
  • noun Used as a form of address for a marquis, an earl, or a viscount.
  • noun Used as the usual style for a baron.
  • noun Used as a courtesy title for a younger son of a duke or marquis.
  • noun Used as a title for certain high officials and dignitaries.
  • noun Used as a title for a bishop.
  • noun God.
  • noun Christianity Jesus.
  • noun A man of renowned power or authority.
  • noun A man who has mastery in a given field or activity.
  • noun Archaic The male head of a household.
  • noun Archaic A husband.
  • intransitive verb To insist upon or boast about so as to act in a domineering or superior manner.
  • intransitive verb To act in a domineering or superior manner.
  • intransitive verb To have a prominent or dominating position.
  • intransitive verb To rule over.
  • idiom (lord it over) To act in a domineering or superior manner toward.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To raise to the rank of a lord; hence, to treat, address, or acknowledge as lord or master.
  • To rule or preside over as lord.
  • To play the lord; domineer; rule with arbitrary or despotic sway: sometimes followed by over, and sometimes by the indefinite it, with or without over.
  • noun In astrology, a planet that exercises dominion: thus, the ruler of the sign or the cusp of the first house in a nativity is termed lord of the ascendant or of the geniture. See lord of the ascendant, under ascendant, 1.
  • noun A hunchback.
  • noun A master or ruler; a man possessing supreme authority or power of control; a monarch, governor, chief, proprietor, or paramount disposer.
  • noun [capitalized] In Scripture, and in general Christian use, the Supreme Being; Jehovah: with the definite article except in address; also applied to Christ, who is called the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord, or our Lord.
  • noun A title of respect formerly given to persons of superior rank or consideration, especially in the phrase of address ‘my lord,’ as to kings and princes, monks or other ecclesiastics, a husband, etc.: still used humorously of a husband with reference to his wife.
  • noun The proprietor of a manor; the grantor under whom feudal tenants held, for whom he was to some extent responsible, and over whom he had authority. The word, with its meaning modified, is retained in the modern term landlord.
  • noun A nobleman; a title of honor in Great Britain given to those who are noble by birth or creation: applied to peers of the realm, of Scotland, and of Ireland, including dukes, marquises, earls, viscounts, and barons.
  • noun An honorary title bestowed in Great Britain on certain official personages, generally as part of a designation.
  • noun One who goes foremost through the harvest with the seythe or the sickle.
  • noun In Great Britain and Ireland, the principal official of a county, who has under him deputy lieutenants, and controls the appointment of justices of the peace and the issue of commissions in the local military organizations. The office was originally created for the defense of the counties in times of disturbance.
  • noun The love-feast or agape, especially in the primitive church, whether accompanying the sacrament or apart from it.

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

  • noun engraving A hump-backed person; -- so called sportively.
  • transitive verb rare To invest with the dignity, power, and privileges of a lord.
  • transitive verb rare To rule or preside over as a lord.
  • intransitive verb To play the lord; to domineer; to rule with arbitrary or despotic sway; -- sometimes with over; and sometimes with it in the manner of a transitive verb.
  • noun One who has power and authority; a master; a ruler; a governor; a prince; a proprietor, as of a manor.
  • noun engraving A titled nobleman., whether a peer of the realm or not; a bishop, as a member of the House of Lords; by courtesy; the son of a duke or marquis, or the eldest son of an earl; in a restricted sense, a baron, as opposed to noblemen of higher rank.
  • noun engraving A title bestowed on the persons above named; and also, for honor, on certain official persons
  • noun A husband.
  • noun (Feudal Law) One of whom a fee or estate is held; the male owner of feudal land
  • noun The Supreme Being; Jehovah.
  • noun (Christianity) The Savior; Jesus Christ.
  • noun one of the constituent parts of the British Parliament, consisting of the lords spiritual and temporal.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old English hlāford : hlāf, bread + weard, guardian; see wer- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English lord, loverd, lhoaverd ("lord, master, ruler"), from Old English hlāford, hlāfweard ("lord, master, husband", literally "bread-keeper"), from hlāf ("bread") + weard ("guardian, keeper"). Compare also lady. More at loaf, ward.

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Examples

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  • keeper of the dough (bread)

    February 11, 2007