lord
Meanings
- The master of the servants of a household; (historical) the master of a feudal manor
- The male head of a household, a father or husband.
- The owner of a house, piece of land, or other possession
- 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)
- A feudal tenant holding his manor directly of the king
- A peer of the realm, particularly a temporal one
- A baron or lesser nobleman, as opposed to greater ones
- One possessing similar mastery in figurative senses (esp. as lord of ~)
- A magnate of a trade or profession.
- The heavenly body considered to possess a dominant influence over an event, time, etc.
- A hunchback.
- Sixpence.
- To domineer or act like a lord.
- To invest with the dignity, power, and privileges of a lord; to grant the title of lord.
- The Abrahamic deity of the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic faiths.
- The God of Abraham and the Jewish scriptures.
- God the Father; the Godhead.
- Jesus Christ, God the Son.
- Any other deity particularly important to a religion or a worshipper.
- An English surname transferred from the nickname, originally a nickname for someone who either acted as if he were a lord or had worked in a lord's household.
- An interjection variously expressing astonishment, surprise, resignation.
- A formal title of the lesser British nobility, used for a lord of the manor or Lord Proprietor.
- A generic title used in reference to any peer of the British nobility or any peer below the dignity of duke and (as a courtesy title) for the younger sons of dukes and marquesses (see usage note).
- Similar formal and generic titles in other countries.
- An additional title added to denote the dignity of certain high officials, such as the "Lord Mayors" of major cities in the British Commonwealth
- The elected president of a festival.
- A high priest.
- Typographical variant of Lord, particularly in English translations of the Bible.
Pronunciation
Word forms
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, laverd), the Old English compound hlāf-ǣta (“servant”, literally “bread-eater”), and modern English lady, from Old English hlǣfdīġe (“bread-kneader”). The Middle English word laford was borrowed by Icelandic, where it survives as lávarður. Doublet of hlaford and laird.