Etymology From Middle English meede, mede, from Old English mēd, meord, meard, meorþ (“meed, reward, pay, price, compensation, bribe”), from Proto-West Germanic *miʀdu, from Proto-Germanic *mizdō (“meed”), from Proto-Indo-European *misdʰéh₂, from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“to exchange”). Cognate with obsolete Dutch miede (“wages”), Low German Meed (“rent”), German Miete (“rent”), Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌶𐌳𐍉 (mizdō, “meed, reward, payment, recompense”); further Ancient Greek μισθός (misthós, “wage”), Old Church Slavonic мьзда (mĭzda, “reward”), Sanskrit मीळ्ह (mīḷhá), Sanskrit मीढ (mīḍhá), Avestan 𐬨𐬍𐬲𐬛𐬀 (mīžda).
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Archaic, Literary A payment or recompense made for services rendered or in recognition of some achievement; reward; award.
For well ſhe wiſt,as true it was indeed / That her liues Lord and patrone of her health / Right well deſerued as his duefull meed, / Her loue,her ſeruice,and her vtmoſt wealth.1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IIII, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza 6, page 6:
Brought up in darkness, and the child of sin, Yet, as the meed of spotless innocence, Just Heaven permitted her by one good deed To work her own redemption, after death.1801, Robert Southey, “(please specify the page)”, in Thalaba the Destroyer, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: […] [F]or T[homas] N[orton] Longman and O[wen] Rees, […], by Biggs and Cottle, […], →OCLC:
4 more examples
Public gratitude, therefore, stamps her seal upon it, and the meed should not be withheld which may here after operate as a stimulus to our gallant tars.1829, Andrew Jackson, First Annual Message to Congress:
1880, translation by Richard Francis Burton of Os Lusiadas, Canto IX, stanza 93 by Luís de Camões Better to merit and the meed to miss, than, lacking merit, every meed possess.
Nor, save for a circumstance presently to be named, could even the Abbess's sullen curiosity have withheld a meed of admiration as the panorama unfolded itself before her.1904, Stanley J. Weyman, “V. The Captain of Vlaye”, in The Abbess of Vlaye:
[Poirot continued,] "And here a full meed of praise is due to Hastings, who made a simple and obvious remark to which no attention was paid."1936, Agatha Christie, The A.B.C. Murders:
[…]my meed hath got me fame:[…]c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene viii], page 167, column 2:
In any case, his life would be in ignominy and would be brief, and he would have lost irretrievably the meed of valour.1934, Abdullah Yusuf Ali, Commentary on The Holy Qur'an, note 3687 on 33:16
Etymology From Middle English meden, from Old English *mēdian (“to reward, bribe”), from Proto-West Germanic *miʀdōn, from Proto-Germanic *mizdōną (“to reward”), from Proto-Indo-European *misdʰ- (“to pay”). Cognate with German Low German meden (“to hire, lease, rent”), German mieten (“to rent”).