lord

English Online Dictionary. What means lord‎? What does lord mean?

English

Wikiquote

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.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /lɔːd/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /lɔɹd/
• Homophone: lored (horse–hoarse merger)
• Homophone: laud (non-rhotic)
• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)d

Noun

lord (plural lords)

1. (obsolete) The master of the servants of a household; (historical) the master of a feudal manor
   1. (archaic) The male head of a household, a father or husband.
   2. (archaic) The owner of a house, piece of land, or other possession
      • ante 1637, Ben Jonson, Sad Shepherd, ii. i. 36

        A mightie Lord of Swine!
2. 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)
   1. (historical) A feudal tenant holding his manor directly of the king
   2. A peer of the realm, particularly a temporal one
      • ante 1420, T. Hoccleve, De Regimine Principum, 442

        Men myghten lordis knowe

        By there arraye, from oþir folke.

      • 1453, Rolls of Parliament, V. 266/2

        If such persone bee of the estate of a Lord, as Duc, Marques, Erle, Viscount or Baron.
   3. (obsolete, uncommon) A baron or lesser nobleman, as opposed to greater ones
      • 1526, W. Bonde, Pylgrimage of Perfection, i. sig. Bviiiv

        Farre excellyng the state of lordes, erles, dukes or kynges.
3. One possessing similar mastery in figurative senses (esp. as lord of ~)
   • ante 1300, Cursor Mundi, 782

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

   • 1992 November 18, Larry David, Seinfeld, 4.11: "The Contest":

     But are you still master of your domain?

     I am king of the county. You?

     Lord of the manor.

   1. A magnate of a trade or profession.

      The Tobacco Lords were a group of Scottish merchants and slave traders who in the 18th century made enormous fortunes by trading in tobacco.
4. (astrology) The heavenly body considered to possess a dominant influence over an event, time, etc.
5. (British, slang, obsolete) A hunchback.
   • 1699, B.E., A new dictionary of the terms ancient and modern of the canting crew:

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

6. (British, Australia, via Cockney rhyming slang, obsolete) Sixpence.

Synonyms

• (master, owner): drighten, possessor, proprietor, sovereign

Derived terms

Descendants

Translations

See also

• lady

Verb

lord (third-person singular simple present lords, present participle lording, simple past and past participle lorded)

1. (ambitransitive) To domineer or act like a lord.
2. (transitive) To invest with the dignity, power, and privileges of a lord; to grant the title of lord.

Synonyms

• (made a lord): elevate, ennoble, invest

Derived terms

• (act like a lord): lord it over

Translations

References

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “lord”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “lord”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Faroese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lɔɻʈ/

Noun

lord

1. indefinite accusative singular of lordur

Hungarian

Etymology

Borrowed from English lord.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈlord]
• Hyphenation: lord
• Rhymes: -ord

Noun

lord (plural lordok)

1. an English peer of the realm or nobleman

Declension

References

Further reading

• lord in Géza Bárczi, László Országh, et al., editors, A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN.

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English lord.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɔrd/
• Rhymes: -ɔrd
• Hyphenation: lòrd

Noun

lord m (invariable)

1. lord (British aristocrat)
2. gentleman

References

Middle English

Alternative forms

• lorde, lhord, lourd, lourde, laverd
• lhoaverd, laford, laverd, loverd, louerd, lowerd (Early Middle English)

Etymology

From Old English hlāford, hlāfweard, in turn from hlāf (“bread, loaf”) + weard (“ward, guardian, keeper”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lɔːrd/
• (Early Middle English) IPA^(key): /ˈlɔːwərd/, /ˈlɔːvərd/

Noun

lord (plural lordes)

1. lord (important man)
2. head of a residence (e.g. household, castle, etc.)
   • 1480, Waterford Archives in the 10th Report of the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts (1885), App. v. 316

3. Lord (title of God)

Derived terms

Descendants

• English: lord (see there for further descendants)
• Scots: laird
  • → English: laird
• Yola: loard
• → Icelandic: lávarður (through laverd)

References

• “lōrd, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Proper noun

lord

1. (Christianity) Lord: Jesus Christ, God the Son
   • c. 1400, Lay Folks Mass, Bk. App. iii. 125:

Interjection

lord

1. (originally an invocation) Lord: an interjection variously expressing astonishment, surprise, resignation
   • c. 1400, Lanfranc of Milan, Practica (trans. as The Science of Chirgurie), 298:

See also

• Lord

Polish

Etymology

Borrowed from English lord, from Middle English lord and lorde, from lourde, from lowerd, louerd, loverd, laford, lhoaverd, from Old English hlāford, from hlāfweard.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɔrt/
• Rhymes: -ɔrt
• Syllabification: lord

Noun

lord m pers

1. Lord (aristocratic title for a man)
2. lord (aristocrat)
3. lord (titled nobleman)

Declension

Related terms

Further reading

• lord in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• lord in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from English lord or French lord.

Noun

lord m (plural lorzi)

1. lord

Declension

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Borrowed from English lord.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lôrd/

Noun

lȍrd m anim (Cyrillic spelling ло̏рд)

1. lord (British title)

Declension

References

• “lord”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2025

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from English lord.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈloɾd/ [ˈloɾð̞]
  • Rhymes: -oɾd
  • Syllabification: lord
• IPA^(key): /ˈloɾ/ [ˈloɾ]
  • Rhymes: -oɾ

Noun

lord m (plural lores)

1. lord (British title)

Related terms

Further reading

• “lord”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024

Turkish

Alternative forms

• lort

Etymology

From Ottoman Turkish لورد (lord), from English lord, from Middle English lord, lorde, from Old English hlāford, hlāfweard, a compound of hlāf (“bread”) + weard (“guardian”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ɫoɾd]
• Hyphenation: lord

Noun

lord (definite accusative lordu, plural lordlar)

1. lord

   Hypernym: asilzade

2. (slang) filthy rich
3. (rhetoric) big daddy

Declension

Related terms

• Lordlar Kamarası