Mead
name, noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 An alcoholic drink fermented from honey and water. uncountable, usually
""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.""
- 2 A meadow. poetic
"Farewel ye crystal streams, that pass / Thro’ fragrant meads of verdant grass:"
- 3 made of fermented honey and water wordnet
- 4 A drink composed of syrup of sarsaparilla or other flavouring extract, and water, and sometimes charged with carbon dioxide. US, uncountable, usually
- 1 A surname from Old English.
- 2 A place name:; A rural community in Cochrane District, north-eastern Ontario, Canada.
- 3 A place name:; A locality in the Shire of Gannawarra, northern Victoria, Australia
- 4 A place name:; In the United States:; A statutory town in Weld County, Colorado.
- 5 A place name:; In the United States:; A township in Merrick County, Nebraska.
Show 6 more definitions
- 6 A place name:; In the United States:; A village in Saunders County, Nebraska.
- 7 A place name:; In the United States:; A township in Belmont County, Ohio.
- 8 A place name:; In the United States:; A town in Bryan County, Oklahoma.
- 9 A place name:; In the United States:; A township in Warren County, Pennsylvania.
- 10 A place name:; In the United States:; A census-designated place in Spokane County, Washington, named after George Meade.
- 11 A place name:; In the United States:; A town in Clark County, Wisconsin.
Example
More examples"The American anthropologist Margaret Mead once said that one should never underestimate what a small group of dedicated people can accomplish."
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).
From Middle English mede (“meadow”), from Old English mǣd. Cognate with West Frisian miede, Mede, German Low German Meed, Dutch made.
Two main origins: * A topographic surname for someone who lived by a meadow, from Old English mǣd (“meadow”). * A metonymic occupational surname for a brewer or seller of mead, from Old English medu (“mead”).
Related phrases
More for "mead"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.