Middle English Dictionary Entry

entente n.
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Entry Info

Forms entente n. Also entent, intent(e, antente, entend.
Etymology OF entente; ML intentus.

Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)

Note: Cp. attente, entencioun.
1.
(a) Purpose or intention; aim or object; reason (for doing something); (b) of entente, intentionally, deliberately, voluntarily; double of entente, ?shifty; (c) for, in, til, to, with (the) entente, for the purpose, to (a certain) end, for (a certain) reason.
Show 35 Quotations
2.
A plan or design; fals entent, evil design, plot.
Show 10 Quotations
3.
(a) Will, wish, desire; in his entente, at his will or pleasure; in, of hol entente, wholeheartedly, without reservation; (b) in, with god (treue, glad) entente, with good will or intention, kindly; in good faith, faithfully; cheerfully.
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4.
Mind, heart, spirit; frame of mind, mental or spiritual attitude; saien ~, to speak one's mind, say what is in one's mind.
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5.
(a) Opinion, view, idea; understanding (of a certain matter); (b) meaning, significance, import (of a statement, book, dream, etc.).
Show 17 Quotations
6.
(a) Attention, heed; don, given, haven, leien, setten, taken entente, to pay attention, give heed, take notice, observe; (b) care, labor, diligence; don, taken entente, take care, look after, take pains, endeavor;--often with to phrase.
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7.
Law (a) A legal claim, a demand; (b) the provisions, substance, or essence of a contract, a law, a will; the meaning or purport of a document in the eyes of the law.
Show 12 Quotations
8.
Med., alch. (a) An end or objective (in the treatment of a wound or a disease; in the performance of an experiment); a plan or method of attaining such an objective; (b) instruction or teaching, a general or basic principle.
Show 9 Quotations

Supplemental Materials (draft)

  • a1500(?1451) Petrarch Secret.(Add 60577)3/14 : Suffre me to saye..myn entente..; the matyer þat Y purpose..to trete Is callyd 'Þe Secrete Conflycte of my Conscyence.'
Note: This, like several of the quots. under sense 5.(b), might well merit the semantic field label rhet., since in them entente approaches the status of a technical term, = L intentio auctoris (as opposed to a book's matere or substaunce).

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