Middle English Dictionary Entry
endītement n.
Entry Info
| Forms | endītement n. Also in-. |
| Etymology | AF |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
Law (a) The act of accusing or indicting a person; indictment or formal accusation; (b) condemnation (as a public nuisance).
Associated quotations
a
- (c1390) Chaucer CT.Pars.(Manly-Rickert)I.800 : The synne of thefte..By stelyng eek of false enditementz vp on hym.
- a1400(c1303) Mannyng HS (Hrl 1701)8913 : Ne quest take of endytement yn holy cherche.
- (1414) RParl.4.57a : Byfore hene of the persones that weren and ben Commissioners upon myn enditement.
- (1430-1) RParl.4.377b : That all manere of Enditementz..aȝeins the saide Owen mowe be affermed.
- (1440) PParv.(Hrl 221)261 : Indytynge, or indytement for trespas: Indictacio.
- (1450) RParl.5.201a : He to answere..before you in youre Courte..to alle Enditementys, and other Suytes and Actions afore this had or taken.
- (a1464) Capgr.Chron.(Cmb Gg.4.12)247 : The tydingis of this endytment cam to the knowlech of the duke.
- (1467) Paston (Gairdner)4.274 : Speke to ȝowr atorney in the Kyngis benche that he take hed to all maner indytamentis, both old and new.
- a1605(c1422) Hoccl.Dial.(Dur-U Cosin V.3.9)179 : How trewe so be ther enditement..vnwasshen gold shall wasshe a-way that vice.
b
- (1422) Plea & Mem.in Bk.Lond.E.123/63 : These beth these Enditementis and the presentementz founden defectif & Noyantz with-jnne the warde of aldresgate.
Supplemental Materials (draft)
- (1485-86) Acc.St.Andrew Hubbard in BMag.32157 : Paid..for the endytment of the pament by twene the chirche and the stone hous, iiij d.
Note: If enditement here represents a legal judgment (as in sense (b) perhaps), then the payment is perhaps of a fine.