(a) The master of servants or slaves; the head of a household; the lord of a castle; also fig.; lordes chaumbre, the master apartment in a castle; hous ~ [see hous 7. (d)]; (b) an owner of property or things; the master of a horse, dog, hawk, etc.; (c) the host or proprietor of an inn; (d) an employer; a client in a lawsuit; (e) a teacher.

(a) A king, emperor, ruler; also, the son of a king, prince; also fig.; ~ king; ~ and governour (sire); lege (sire, soverain) ~; lordes man, an emperor's subject; (b) a king as a feudal lord to whom the subjects owe allegiance; (c) in the titles of sovereigns; (d) the leader of a tribe, people, or band of devils; (e) the chief administrator of a country, governor; also fig.; (f) in proverb.

(a) A feudal lord; ~ of the fe; lordes rente, feudal rent; (b) in one of the titles in the style of the English king: ~ of (on) ir-lond.

(a) A person of high rank or social position; a nobleman; ?also, the son of a nobleman; ~ and ladie; ~ and page, the high and the lowly people, all and every; (b) a noble warrior, knight; (c) a leader of a group of knights; a military leader or commander.

Specif. an English nobleman: (a) a peer in the House of Lords; a nobleman who is a member of the Privy Council; lordes spiritual (temporal), the bishops and mitred abbots (the lay peers) in this body; ~ appellaunt, one of the English peers who charged others with high treason under Richard II; (b) an appellation for a nobleman of the rank of duke, marquis, earl, or knight; mi ~; (c) one who presides at a judicial session; a judge in civil or ecclesiastical courts; ~ juge; (d) in official titles: ~ chaunceler, the Lord Chancellor of England; ~ marcher(e, an English nobleman holding land in the Welsh Marches.

(a) An appellation for saints; also in oaths; (b) an appellation for the pope; (c) in titles of, or as terms of address for, cardinals, archbishops, bishops, etc.; ~ abbot (bishop, cardinal, etc.); mi ~ of canterburi (london, etc.); (d) a term of respect for a monk; mi ~.

(a) God; the Trinity; the God of the Old Testament; of oure lordes grace, by the help of God; under oure ~, in the world; (b) ~ drihten, ~ god (almighti(n, ~ mighti, ~ almighti god; ~ of heven (al, might, pes); almightin (god, heigh, heighest, heven, hevenli, livinge, mighti) ~; alre lorde(n ~, ~ of kinges (lordes, lordinges), ~ over lordes; etc.; (c) Christ; the Christ child; (d) ~ crist (god, jesu), ~ jesu crist, ~ crist god; ~ of heven (lif); almighti (blessed, dere-worthe, glorious, hevenli, holi, livinge, milceful, swete) ~; ~ of (over) lordes, ~ over al; alre mightene ~; etc.; (e) bodi of oure ~ (iesu crist, the Communion bread; lordes bord [see bord 5. (a)]; lordes dai, Sunday; lordes soper, the Holy Communion; (f) after oure lordes birth time [cp. birth(e 7. (e)], the yere of oure ~ (god, jesu crist, the year of our Lord, A.D.; the yere of the incarnacioun of oure ~ [see incarnacioun 1. (b)].

In pious ejaculations and expressions of submission to God's authority, trust in God's power, etc.: (a) blessed be the name of oure ~; thanked be oure ~, thankinge to oure ~ god, thank God; (b) oure ~ foryelde, oure ~ mot yelden, may our Lord reward (you); oure ~ helpe, may God help (sb.); mi ~ god shal kepen, God keep (you); our ~ oure lives save, God save us; ~ grace sende, God help (sb.); oure ~ yeve joi, may the Lord give (sb.) joy; (c) ~ forbede, God forbid; (d) if oure ~ wil, if the ~ shal willen, if it were thi lordes wil, if it be God's wish, if God wish; as oure ~ wolde, as God would have it; (e) oure ~ me lete ibiden the dai, may God let me live to see the day (that I can do sth.).

(a) In not so pious interjections or exclamations: ~ crist (god); ha (o) ~; (b) in oaths, asseverations, invocations: bi that ~ that for us bledde (that made me), etc.; for the lordes love of heven, for love that ye oue to the ~, in oure lordes love; so me helpe the ~, so help me God!

(a) A deity, divine being; (b) a pagan god; a minor pagan deity; ~ of lordes, Jupiter, god or planet.

?A creator; one who composes songs; lifes ~, Christ [see lif 1a. (d)].

(a) A husband; also fig. Christ as the spiritual spouse of a pious woman; (b) as a woman's term of endearment for her lover or husband; (c) ?a father.

(a) One who is superior to or has dominance over another; one who has control or mastery (of sth.); also, an animal that holds sway over others; also fig.; ~ and sire; ~ of (al) the world, Man; being ~, of pathological qualities: having dominance, being dominant; (b) an authority in a field of knowledge; ~ phisicien (of phisik), a physician, doctor; (c) a patron, protector; god ~, good protector [cp. god adj. 1. (e)].

(a) That which is principal, preeminent, or most excellent of its kind; -- said of the sun, a ruby, etc.; (b) astrol. a planet in the sign where it is most powerful; (c) ~ flok, the leading priestly family among the New Testament Hebrews.

As a term of polite, respectful, or gracious address: sir; pl. gentlemen: (a) used by a person of lower social status for his superior; (b) used by poets or storytellers to readers or an audience; -- usually pl.; (c) used by a superior or among equals.

(a) In surnames; (b) in place names [see Smith PNElem. 1.248].