A derivational suffix occurring in many ME nouns, usu. derived from L or OF/AF. In L -ūra was usu. added to p.ppl. stems of verbs, and sometimes to other verbal stems, to form nouns denoting primarily an action or a process, or the result, means, or instrument of such action or process; the suffix continued to be active in OF/AF, with the result that many ME nouns are derived from OF/AF nouns which have no extant L originals. Most ME nouns with this suffix, as in L and OF/AF, denote either (a) an action or a process (e.g., agriculture, discomfiture, enclosure, exiture, mixture, progeniture (from ML rather than ME), propositure, quassature, seiser n.(2), stricture, torture), or (b) an action or a process and the result, means, or instrument of such action or process, usu. in separate numbered or lettered senses (e.g., aperture, brisure, coverture, culture, engendrure, enointure, fracture, geniture, investiture, lecture, norture, overture, pasture, peinture, purpresture, rasure, rupture, sculpture, suture, tincture, tonsure, uncture, usure, vestiture), or (c) the result, means, or instrument only (e.g., closure, colature, commissure, disjuncture, endenture, farsure, fissure, ligature, limature, nutrure, pariture, plicature, puture, quadrature, rascature, scissure, scripture, streiture, structure, vesture). Other nouns denote: (d) a state, condition, or quality (e.g., mesure 3. & 4., nature 4., pressure n.(1) (c), stature 1., valure 1. & 2., verdure (b)); (e) an office (e.g., prefecture, prepositure); (f) a strictly nominal, concrete item (e.g., parure 1., stature 2., verdure (a); sometimes difficult to distinguish from those in category (c) above and vice versa). The suffix was moderately active in ME, appearing in a number of nouns that were either definitely or possibly formed from ME verbs (e.g., discomforture, perverture, reporture, translature) or nouns (e.g., oppressure, ortografiure, paitrure, tiranture, trosture, visure, wallure) or one or the other (e.g., heven-liture, yefture). The nouns in question have the expected senses of such suffixed words: an action or a process (oppressure, perverture, yefture), a process and the result (reporture), the result only (heven-liture (a), ortografiure), a state, condition, or quality (discomforture, tiranture, trosture), a nominal, concrete item (paitrure, visure, wallure), and one new sense: a collective body (e.g., translature). In addition, new nouns were occas. formed from existing -ure nouns by the addition or deletion of a prefix (e.g., disfigure, miscreature, scomfiture), and of course other words were created from existing -ure words (e.g., armure-les adj., aventurli adv., misaventurous adj., nortureli adv., norturen v., norturie n., parured adj., scripturen v., statured adj., verduren v.).