bote
nounUK /bəʊt/ · US /boʊt/
Etymology Learned borrowing from Middle English bōte (“advantage, benefit, profit; relief, salvation; atonement, amends, expiation; cure”), from Old English bōt (“help, relief, advantage, remedy; compensation for an injury or wrong; (peace) offering, recompense, amends, atonement, reformation, penance, repentance”), from Proto-West Germanic *bōtu, from Proto-Germanic *bōtō (“recompense”). Doublet of boot (inherited from the same Middle English word).
1
Law Historical Atonement, compensation, amends, satisfaction; as, manbote, a compensation for a man slain.
2
Law Historical A privilege or allowance of necessaries, especially in feudal times.
3
Law Historical A right to take wood from property not one's own.
- Synonyms
- estovers