lord

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   The master of the servants of a household; (historical) the master of a feudal manor

   Bleſſed is that ſeruant, whome his Lord when he commeth, ſhal finde ſo doing.

2. 2
   noun

   One possessing similar mastery over others; (historical) any feudal superior generally; any nobleman or aristocrat; any chief, prince, or sovereign ruler; in Scotland, a male member of the lowest rank of nobility (the equivalent rank in England is baron)

   It is a pytuouse case... whan subjectes rebell agaynst their naturall lorde.

3. 3
   noun

   One possessing similar mastery in figurative senses (esp. as lord of ~)

   O wityng bath god and ill Ȝee suld be lauerds at ȝour will.

4. 4
   noun

   The heavenly body considered to possess a dominant influence over an event, time, etc.

   The assendent, & eke the lord of the assendent, may be shapen for to be fortunat or infortunat, as thus, a fortunat assendent clepen they whan þat no wykkid planete, as Saturne or Mars, or elles the tail of the dragoun, is in þe hows of the assendent.

5. 5
   noun

   A hunchback.

   Lord, a very crooked, deformed... Person.

6. 6
   noun

   Sixpence.

   Twenty years ago you might hear a sixpence described as a ‘Lord’ meaning ‘Lord of the Manor’; that is, a tanner.

7. 7
   verb

   To domineer or act like a lord.

   The grisly toadstool grown there might I see, / And loathed paddocks lording on the same.

8. 8
   verb

   To invest with the dignity, power, and privileges of a lord; to grant the title of lord.

   He being thus lorded / Not only with what my revenue yielded, / But what my power might else exact, […] / he did believe / He was indeed the Duke

Etymology

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,…