lord

From Middle English lord and lorde (attested from the 15th century), from earlier (14th century) lourde and other variants which dropped the intervocalic consonant of earlier lowerd, louerd, loverd, laford, and lhoaverd; from Old English hlāford < hlāfweard, a compound of hlāf (“bread”) + weard (“guardian”); see loaf and ward. The term was already being applied broadly prior to the literary development of Old English and was influenced by its common use to translate Latin dominus. Compare Scots laird (“lord”), preserving a separate vowel development (from northern/Scottish Middle English lard, laverd), the Old English compound hlāf-ǣta (“servant”, literally “bread-eater”), and modern English lady, from Old English hlǣfdīġe (“bread-kneader”).^[1] The Middle English word laford was borrowed by Icelandic, where it survives as lávarður. Doublet of hlaford and laird.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /lɔːd/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /lɔɹd/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Homophone: lored (horse–hoarse merger)
• Homophone: laud (non-rhotic)
• Homophone: lured (some accents)
• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)d

lord (plural lords)

1. (obsolete) The master of the servants of a household; (historical) the master of a feudal manor
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 24:46:

     Bleſſed is that ſeruant, whome his Lord when he commeth, ſhal finde ſo doing.

   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], line 167:

     Por. ...But now, I was the Lord
     of this faire manſion, maiſter of my ſeruants,
     Queene oer my ſelfe […]

   • 1766, William Blackstone, chapter 418, in Commentaries on the Laws of England, book II (Of the Rights of Things), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC:

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

   1. (archaic) The male head of a household, a father or husband.
      • 1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto), London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], →OCLC:

        […] thou worthie Lord,
        Of that vnworthie wife that greeteth thee

      • c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii], line 131:

        Pet. Katherine, I charge thee, tell theſe head-ſtrong women,
        What dutie they doe owe their Lords and huſbands!

      • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 18:12:

        Therefore Sarah laughed within her ſelfe, ſaying, After I am waxed old, ſhall I haue pleaſure, my lord being old alſo?

      • 1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], chapter XVI, in Emma: […], volume III, London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC, page 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.

   2. (archaic) The owner of a house, piece of land, or other possession
      • ante 1637, Ben Jonson, Sad Shepherd, ii. i. 36

        A mightie Lord of Swine!

      • 1697, Virgil, “The Twelfth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

        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”, in Gloss, published 1875, 139/2:

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

2. One possessing similar mastery over others; (historical) any feudal superior generally; any nobleman or aristocrat; any chief, prince, or sovereign ruler; in Scotland, a male member of the lowest rank of nobility (the equivalent rank in England is baron)
   • 1530, John Palsgrave, Lesclarcissement, 680/1:

     It is a pytuouse case... whan subjectes rebell agaynst their naturall lorde.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book XII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     Man over men He made not Lord.

   1. (historical) A feudal tenant holding his manor directly of the king
   2. A peer of the realm, particularly a temporal one
      • ante 1420, T. Hoccleve, De Regimine Principum, 442

        Men myghten lordis knowe

        By there arraye, from 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.

      • 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene 1], line 18:

        Princes, and noble Lords:
        What anſwer ſhall I make to this baſe man?

      • 1614, John Selden, chapter III, in Titles of Honor, London: […] William Stansby for Iohn Helme, […], →OCLC, 1st part, page 59:

        In origination of our Engliſh name Lord, vvhereby vve and the Scots ſtile all ſuch as are of the Greater Nobilitie i. Barons, as alſo Biſhops, its not eaſie to ſatisfie you.

      • 1900 July 21, Daily Express:

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

   3. (obsolete, uncommon) 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 kynges.

      • 1826, Benjamin Disraeli, Vivian Grey, II. iii. iii. 26:

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

3. One possessing similar mastery in figurative senses (esp. as lord of ~)
   • ante 1300, Cursor Mundi, 782

     O wityng bath god and ill Ȝee suld be lauerds at ȝour will.

   • 1398, Bartholomew de Glanville, translated by John Trevisa, De Proprietatibus Rerum, published 1495, viii. xvi. 322:

     The sonne is the lorde of planetes.

   • 1697, Virgil, “The Third Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

     Love is Lord of all.

   • 1895, Kenneth Graham, The Golden Age, London, page 8:

     The masterful wind was up and out, shouting and chasing, the lord of the morning.

   • 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.

   1. A magnate of a trade or profession.

      The Tobacco Lords were a group of Scottish merchants and slave traders who in the 18th century made enormous fortunes by trading in tobacco.

      • 1823, W. Cobbett, Rural Rides, published 1885, I. 399:

        Oh, Oh! The cotton Lords are tearing!

4. (astrology) The heavenly body considered to possess a dominant influence over an event, time, etc.
   • c. 1391, 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 þat no wykkid planete, as Saturne or Mars, or elles the tail of the dragoun, is in þe hows of the assendent.

5. (British, slang, obsolete) A hunchback.
   • 1699, B.E., A new dictionary of the terms ancient and modern of the canting crew:

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

6. (British, Australia, via Cockney rhyming slang, obsolete) 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.

• (master, owner): drighten, possessor, proprietor, sovereign

• lady

lord (third-person singular simple present lords, present participle lording, simple past and past participle lorded)

1. (ambitransitive) To domineer or act like a lord.
   • 1579, Immeritô [pseudonym; Edmund Spenser], “December. Ægloga Duodecima.”, in The Shepheardes Calender: […], London: […] Iohn Wolfe for Iohn Harrison the yonger, […], →OCLC:

     The grisly toadstool grown there might I see, / And loathed paddocks lording on the same.

2. (transitive) To invest with the dignity, power, and privileges of a lord; to grant the title of lord.
   • c. 1610–1611, William Shakespeare, The Tempest, act 1, scene 2:

     He being thus lorded / Not only with what my revenue yielded, / But what my power might else exact, […] / he did believe / He was indeed the Duke

• (made a lord): elevate, ennoble, invest

• (act like a lord): lord it over

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “lord”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “lord”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

• IPA^(key): /lɔɻʈ/

lord

1. indefinite accusative singular of lordur

Unadapted borrowing from English lord.^[1]

• IPA^(key): [ˈlord]
• Hyphenation: lord
• Rhymes: -ord

lord (plural lordok)

1. an English peer of the realm or nobleman

• lord in Géza Bárczi, László Országh, et al., editors, A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN.

Borrowed from English lord.

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɔrd/^[1]
• Rhymes: -ɔrd
• Hyphenation: lòrd

lord m (invariable)

1. lord (British aristocrat)
2. gentleman

• lorde, lhord, lourd, lourde, laverd
• lhoaverd, laford, laverd, loverd, louerd, lowerd (Early Middle English)
• laferrd (Ormulum)

From Old English hlāford, hlāfweard, in turn from hlāf (“bread, loaf”) + weard (“ward, guardian, keeper”).

• IPA^(key): /lɔ̝ːrd/
• (Early Middle English) IPA^(key): /ˈlɑːwərd/, /ˈlɑːvərd/

lord (plural lordes)

1. lord (important man)
   • c. 1275, Judas (Roud 2964, Child Ballad 23, Trinity College MS. B.14.39), folio 34, recto, lines 22-23; republished at Cambridge: Wren Digital Library (Trinity College), 29 May 2019:

     I nul ſulle my louerd foꝛ noneſ cunneſ eiſte. / bote hit be foꝛ þe þritti platen. þat he me bitaiſte.

     "I won't betray my Lord for any kind of good, / except for the thirty pieces that he left me."

   • c. 1335-1361, William of Palerne (MS. King's College 13), folio 71, recto, lines 4538-4539; republished as W. W. Skeat, editor, The Romance of William of Palerne‎^[1], London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., 1867, →OCLC, page 145:

     […] to fare out as faſt · wiþ his fader to ſpeke / ⁊ with lordesse of þat lond · þat him had long miſſed

     […] to comfortably leave to speak with his father and lords from that realm who'd missed him for a long while.

2. head of a residence (e.g. household, castle, etc.)
   • 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 thar houses.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

3. Lord (title of God)

• English: lord (see there for further descendants)
• Scots: laird
  • → English: laird
• Yola: loard
• → Icelandic: lávarður (through laverd)

• “lōrd, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

lord

1. (Christianity) Lord: Jesus Christ, God the Son
   • c. 1400, Lay Folks Mass, Bk. App. iii. 125:

     Þou art a sooþfaste leche, lord.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

lord

1. (originally an invocation) Lord: an interjection variously expressing astonishment, surprise, resignation
   • c. 1384, John Wyclif, Selected Works, III.358:

     Lord! in tyme of Jesus Crist ... were men not bounden to shryve hem þus.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • c. 1400, Lanfranc of Milan, Practica (trans. as The Science of Chirgurie), 298:

     O lord, whi is it so greet difference betwix a cirurgian & a phisician.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

• Lord

Borrowed from English lord, from Middle English lord and lorde, from lourde, from lowerd, louerd, loverd, laford, lhoaverd, from Old English hlāford, from hlāfweard.

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɔrt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔrt
• Syllabification: lord

lord m pers

1. Lord (aristocratic title for a man)
2. lord (aristocrat)
3. lord (titled nobleman)

• “lord”, in Wielki słownik języka polskiego‎^[2] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• “lord”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[3] (in Polish)

Borrowed from English lord or French lord.

lord m (plural lorzi)

1. lord

Borrowed from English lord.

• IPA^(key): /lôrd/

lȍrd m anim (Cyrillic spelling ло̏рд)

1. lord (British title)

• “lord”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2026

Borrowed from English lord, from Middle English lord; see lord for more.

• IPA^(key): /ˈloɾd/ [ˈloɾð̞]
  • Rhymes: -oɾd
  • Syllabification: lord
• IPA^(key): /ˈloɾ/ [ˈloɾ]
  • Rhymes: -oɾ

lord m (plural lores)

1. lord (British title)

• “lord”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

• lort

From Ottoman Turkish لورد (lord), from English lord, from Middle English lord, lorde, from Old English hlāford, hlāfweard, a compound of hlāf (“bread”) + weard (“guardian”)

• IPA^(key): [ɫoɾd]
• Hyphenation: lord

lord (definite accusative lordu, plural lordlar)

1. English lord or nobleman
2. (slang) filthy rich
3. (rhetoric) big daddy

• Lordlar Kamarası