lord

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A man of high rank in the nobility, or his title.

   The lord owned all the land surrounding the village.

2. 2
   noun

   A man who has power or authority over others, such as a ruler or master.

   In the Middle Ages, peasants worked the fields of their lord.

3. 3
   verb

   To behave in a proud, superior way toward others.

   He loves to lord his success over his old classmates.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Lord comes from Old English hlafweard, literally “keeper of bread,” formed from early versions of loaf and ward. Its feminine counterpart lady derives from Old English hlafdige, “kneader of bread.”

From Middle English lord and lorde (attested from the 15th century), from earlier (14th century) lourde and other variants which dropped the intervocalic consonant of earlier lowerd, louerd, loverd, laford, and lhoaverd; from Old English hlāford < hlāfweard, a compound of hlāf (“bread”) + weard (“guardian”); see loaf and ward. The term was already being applied broadly prior to the literary development of Old English and was influenced by its common use to translate Latin dominus. Compare Scots laird (“lord”), preserving a separate vowel development (from northern/Scottish Middle English lard,…

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