Noun

(en noun)

(label) The master of the servants of a household; (label) the master of a feudal manor

*c. 950 , (Lindisfarne Gospels), Matt. xxiv. 46

*:Eadig ðe]] ðone miððy cymes hlaferd his on-fand sua [[doing, doende.

*1611 , (King James Bible), Matt. xxiv. 46

*:Ble??ed]] is that finde [[so, ?o doing.

*1600 , (William Shakespeare), , iii. ii. 167 ff.

*:Por . ...But now, I was the Lord

*:of this faire man?ion]], of my [[servants, ?eruants,

*:Queene]] oer [[myself, my ?elfe...

*1794 , E. Christian in (William Blackstone), (Commentaries on the Laws of England) , II. 418

*:Lords of manors are distinguished from other land-owners with regard to the game.

#(label) The male head of a household, a father or husband.

#*831 , charter in Henry Sweet, The oldest English texts , 445

#*:Ymbe ðet lond et cert ðe hire eðelmod hire hlabard salde.

#*1594 , (William Shakespeare), "(The Rape of Lucrece)"

#*:...thou worthie Lord ,

#*:Of that vnworthie]] wife that [[greets, greeteth thee

#*c. 1591 , (William Shakespeare), (The Taming of the Shrew) (1623), v. ii. 131 f.

#*:Pet. Katherine , I charge thee, tell the?e]] [[head-strong, head-?trong women,

#*:What dutie]] they doe owe their Lords and [[husbands, hu?bands!

#*1611 , (King James Bible), Gen. xviii. 12

#*:Therefore Sarah laughed within her ?elfe]], , my lord being old [[also, al?o?

#*1816 , (Jane Austen), , III. xvi. 300

#*:Yes, here I am, my good friend; and here I have been so long, that anywhere else I should think it necessary to apologise; but, the truth is, that I am waiting for my lord and master.

#(label) The owner of a house, piece of land, or other possession

#*ante'' 1300 , ''Cursor Mundi , 601 f.

#*:Als]] oure lauerd has [[heaven, heuen in hand

#*:Sua]] [[should, suld man be lauerd of land.

#*1480 , Waterford Archives in the 10th Report of the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts (1885), App. v. 316

#*:All suche lordes as have gutters betuxte]] [[their, thar houses.

#*ante'' 1637 , (Ben Jonson), ''Sad Shepherd , ii. i. 36

#*:A mightie Lord of Swine!

#*1697 , (John Dryden) translating (Publius Virgilius Maro)'s Æneis , xii

#*:Turnus...

#*:Wrench'd from his feeble hold the shining Sword;

#*:And plung'd it in the Bosom of its Lord .

#*1874 , J. H. Collins, Principles of Metal Mining (1875), Gloss. 139/2

#*:Lord''''', the owner of the land in which a mine is situated is called the ‘' lord ’.

One possessing similar mastery over others; (label) any feudal superior generally; any nobleman or aristocrat; any chief, prince, or sovereign ruler

*c. 893 , Orosius's History , i. i. §13

*:Ohthere sæde his hlaforde , Ælfrede cyninge, þæt...

* 1530 , John Palsgrave, Lesclarcissement , 680/1

It is a pytuouse]] case... whan subjectes rebell [[against, agaynst their naturall lorde .

* 1667 , (John Milton), (Paradise Lost) , xii. 70

Man over men He made not Lord .

# (label) A feudal tenant holding his manor directly of the king

# A peer of the realm, particularly a temporal one

#* ante 1375 , William of Palerne (1867), l.4539

To fare out as fast with his fader to speke, & with lordesse of þat]] [[land, lond.

#* ante'' 1420 , T. Hoccleve, ''De Regimine Principum , 442

Men myghten lordis knowe

By there]] arraye, from [[other, oþir folke.

#* 1453 , Rolls of Parliament, V. 266/2

If such persone bee of the estate of a Lord , as Duc]], Marques, Erle, Viscount or [[baron, Baron.

#* 1597 , (William Shakespeare), (The life and death of King Richard the Second) , iv.i.18

Princes, and noble Lords :

What an?wer]] I make to this [[base, ba?e man?

#* 1614 , J. Selden, Titles of Honor , 59

Our English name Lord , whereby we and the Scots stile]] all such as are of the Greater [[nobility, Nobilitie i. Barons, as also Bishops.

#* 1900 July 21, Daily Express , 5/7

The Englishman of to-day still dearly loves a lord .

# A baron or lesser nobleman, as opposed to greater ones

#* 1526 , W. Bonde, Pylgrimage of Perfection , i. sig. Bviiiv

Farre]] excellyng the state of lordes , erles, dukes or [[kings, kynges.

#* 1826 , (Benjamin Disraeli), Vivian Grey , II. iii. iii. 26

The Marquess played off the two Lords and the Baronet against his former friend.

One possessing similar mastery in figurative senses (esp. as lord of ~)

* ante'' 1300 , ''Cursor Mundi , 782

O wityng bath]] [[good, god and ill ?ee suld be lauerds at ?our will.

* 1398 , John Trevisa translating Bartholomew de Glanville's De Proprietatibus Rerum (1495), viii. xvi. 322

The sonne]] is the lorde of [[planets, planetes.

1697 , (John Dryden) translating (Publius Virgilius Maro) as (Georgics) , iii

Love is Lord of all.

* 1992 November 18, (Larry David), (Seinfeld) , 4.11: "(The Contest)":

But are you still master of your domain?

I am king of the county. You?

Lord of the manor.

# The magnates of a trade or profession

#* 1823 , W. Cobbett, Rural Rides (1885), I. 399

Oh, Oh! The cotton Lords are tearing!

(label) The heavenly body considered to possess a dominant influence over an event, time,

* (Geoffrey Chaucer), Treatise on the Astrolabe , ii. §4:

The assendent]], & eke the lord of the assendent, may be shapen for to be fortunat or infortunat, as thus, a fortunat assendent clepen they whan hows of the [[ascendant, assendent.

A hunchback.

*1699 , B.E., A new dictionary of the terms ancient and modern of the canting crew :

Lord , a very crooked, deformed... Person.

Sixpence.

* 1933 November 16, Times Literary Supplement , 782/1:

Twenty years ago you might hear a sixpence described as a ‘Lord ’ meaning ‘Lord of the Manor’; that is, a tanner.

Noun

(countable, uncountable) Knowledge that is hidden and intended to be kept hidden.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-14, author=(Jonathan Freedland)

, volume=189, issue=1, page=18, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Obama's once hip brand is now tainted , passage=Now we are liberal with our innermost secrets , spraying them into the public ether with a generosity our forebears could not have imagined. Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet.}}

* Rambler

To tell our secrets is often folly; to communicate those of others is treachery.

(uncountable) Something not understood or known.

* Milton

All secrets of the deep, all nature's works.

(archaic, in the plural) The genital organs.