mead meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

mead

noun

/miːd/

Etymology From Middle English mede, from Old English medu, from Proto-West Germanic *medu, from Proto-Germanic *meduz, from Proto-Indo-European *médʰu (“honey; honey wine”). Cognate with Ancient Greek μέθυ (méthu) (whence English methyl), Lithuanian medùs, Old Church Slavonic медъ (medŭ, “honey”), Persian می (mey), Sanskrit मधु (mádhu), Welsh medd, Finnish mesi, Chinese 蜜 (mì).

Usually An alcoholic drink fermented from honey and water.

Alcoholic beverages

"Just come in," said Mrs. Churchill, "and take one glass of my mead." / "No—not even such a golden promise tempts me. I am afraid that Lord Marchmont will be at home before me—and he is not yet accustomed to be kept waiting."1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter IV, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 47:
No one, then or now, wanted to drink the mead that came out of Odin's arse.2017, Neil Gaiman, Norse Mythology, Bloomsbury Publishing, page 131:

US, Usually A drink composed of syrup of sarsaparilla or other flavouring extract, and water, and sometimes charged with carbon dioxide.

Derived terms: black mead, mead-bench, mead cup, meaded, Meader, meadery, mead hall, meadlike, mead moon, meadsweet, meadwort, meady, red mead
Related terms: amethyst, methane, metho-, methyl, bragget, ambrosia

mead

noun

Etymology From Middle English mede (“meadow”), from Old English mǣd. Cognate with West Frisian miede, Mede, German Low German Meed, Dutch made.

Poetic A meadow.

And then in haste her bow'r she leaves, With Thestylis to bind the sheaves; Or if the earlier season lead To the tann'd haycock in the mead.1645, John Milton, L'Allegro:
Farewel ye crystal streams, that pass Thro’ fragrant meads of verdant grass:a. 1722, Matthew Prior, “Dorinda”, in H. Bunker Wright, Monroe K. Spears, editors, The Literary Works of Matthew Prior, Second edition, volume I, Oxford: Clarendon Press, published 1971, page 693:

4 more examples

Hither, hither, love — ‘Tis a shady mead — Hither, hither, love! Let us feed and feed!c. 1817, John Keats, Hither, hither, love -:
But any man that walks the mead, In bud, or blade, or bloom, may find, According as his humours lead, A meaning suited to his mind.1842, Alfred Tennyson, “The Day-Dream. Moral.”, in Poems. […], volume II, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 160:
Four voices of four hamlets round, From far and near, on mead and moor, Swell out and fail, as if a door Were shut between me and the sound […]1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XXVIII”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 45:
'We must overhaul that mead,' he resumed; 'this mustn't continny!'1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: James R[ipley] Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., […], →OCLC:

Derived terms: lot mead, Temple Meads, Thamesmead