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FromMiddle Englishlord andlorde (attested from the 15th century), from earlier (14th century)lourde and other variants which dropped the intervocalic consonant of earlierlowerd,louerd,loverd,laford, andlhoaverd; fromOld Englishhlāford <hlāfweard, a compound ofhlāf(“bread”) +weard(“guardian”); seeloaf andward. The term was already being applied broadly prior to the literary development of Old English and was influenced by its common use to translate Latindominus. CompareScotslaird(“lord”), preserving a separate vowel development (from northern/ScottishMiddle Englishlard,laverd), the Old English compoundhlāf-ǣta(“servant”, literally“bread-eater”), and modern Englishlady, from Old Englishhlǣfdīġe(“bread-kneader”).^[1] The Middle English wordlaford was borrowed by Icelandic, where it survives aslávarður.Doublet ofhlaford andlaird.

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

• Audio(UK):

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• (General American)IPA^(key):/lɔɹd/

• Audio(US):

  (file)

• Audio(General Australian):

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

lord (plurallords)

1. (obsolete) Themaster of theservants of ahousehold;(historical) themaster of afeudalmanor
   • 1611,The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London:[…]Robert Barker, […],→OCLC,Matthew24:46:

     Bleſſed is thatſeruant,whome hisLord when hecommeth,ſhalfindeſo doing.

   • c.1596–1598 (date written),William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London:[…]Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act III, scene ii], line167:

     Por. ...But now, I was theLord
     of thisfairemanſion,maiſter of myſeruants,
     Queeneoermy ſelfe[…]

   • 1766,William Blackstone, chapter 418, inCommentaries 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 thegame.

   1. (archaic) Themalehead of ahousehold, afather orhusband.
      • 831, charter in Henry Sweet,The oldest English texts, 445

        Ymbe ðet lond et cert ðe hire eðelmod hirehlabard salde.

      • 1594,William Shakespeare,Lucrece (First Quarto), London:[…]Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […],→OCLC:

        […]thouworthieLord,
        Of thatvnworthie wife thatgreeteth thee

      • c.1590–1592 (date written),William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London:[…]Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act V, scene ii], line131:

        Pet. Katherine, I charge thee, telltheſehead-ſtrong women,
        Whatdutie theydoe owe theirLords andhuſbands!

      • 1611,The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London:[…]Robert Barker, […],→OCLC,Genesis18:12:

        Therefore Sarah laughed within herſelfe,ſaying, After I amwaxed old,ſhall Ihauepleaſure, mylord being oldalſo?

      • 1815 December (indicated as1816), [Jane Austen], chapter XVI, inEmma: […], volume III, London:[…][Charles Roworth and James Moyes] forJohn Murray,→OCLC,page300:

        Yes, here I am, my good friend; and here I have been so long, that anywhere else I should think it necessary toapologise; but, the truth is, that I am waiting for mylord and master.

   2. (archaic) Theowner of ahouse,piece ofland, orotherpossession
      • 1480, Waterford Archives in the 10th Report of the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts (1885), App. v. 316

        Allsuchelordes as have guttersbetuxtethar houses.

      • ante 1637,Ben Jonson,Sad Shepherd, ii. i. 36

        AmightieLord of Swine!

      • 1697,Virgil, “The Twelfth Book of theÆneis”, inJohn 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 itsLord.

      • 1874, J. H. Collins, “Principles of Metal Mining”, inGloss, published1875,139/2:

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

2. Onepossessingsimilarmastery overothers;(historical) anyfeudalsuperiorgenerally; anynobleman oraristocrat; anychief,prince, orsovereignruler; in Scotland, a male member of the lowestrank ofnobility (the equivalent rank in England isbaron)
   • c. 893,Orosius's History, i. i. §13

     Ohthere sæde hishlaforde, Ælfrede cyninge, þæt...

   • 1530, John Palsgrave,Lesclarcissement,680/1:

     It is apytuouse case...whansubjectesrebellagaynst theirnaturalllorde.

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

     Man over men He made notLord.

   1. (historical) Afeudaltenantholding hismanordirectly of theking
   2. Apeer of the realm,particularly atemporal one
      • ante 1420, T. Hoccleve,De Regimine Principum, 442

        Menmyghtenlordisknowe

        Bytherearraye, fromoþirfolke.

      • 1453, Rolls of Parliament, V. 266/2

        If suchpersonebee of the estate of aLord, asDuc,Marques,Erle,Viscount orBaron.

      • 1595 December 9 (first known performance),William Shakespeare, “The life and death of King Richard the Second”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London:[…]Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act IV, scene 1], line18:

        Princes, and nobleLords:
        Whatanſwerſhall I make to thisbaſe man?

      • 1614,John Selden, chapter III, inTitles of Honor, London:[…]William Stansby for Iohn Helme, […],→OCLC, 1st part,page59:

        In origination of our Engliſh nameLord, vvhereby vve and the Scotsſtile 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 alord.

   3. (obsolete,uncommon) Abaron orlessernobleman,as opposed togreater ones
      • 1526, W. Bonde,Pylgrimage of Perfection, i. sig. Bviiiv

        Farreexcellyng the state oflordes,erles, dukes orkynges.

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

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

3. Onepossessingsimilarmastery infigurativesenses (esp. aslord of ~)
   • ante 1300,Cursor Mundi, 782

     O wityngbathgod and ill Ȝee suld belauerds at ȝour will.

   • 1398, Bartholomew de Glanville, translated by John Trevisa,De Proprietatibus Rerum, published1495, viii. xvi. 322:

     Thesonne is thelorde ofplanetes.

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

     Love isLord of all.

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

     The masterful wind was up and out, shouting and chasing, thelord 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. Amagnate of atrade orprofession.

      TheTobacco 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, published1885,I. 399:

        Oh, Oh! The cottonLords are tearing!

4. (astrology) Theheavenly bodyconsidered topossess adominantinfluence over anevent,time,etc.
   • c.1391,Geoffrey Chaucer,Treatise on the Astrolabe,ii. §4:

     Theassendent, & eke thelord of theassendent, may be shapen for to befortunat orinfortunat, as thus, afortunatassendent clepen theywhanþat nowykkidplanete, asSaturne or Mars, orelles the tail of thedragoun, is inþehows of theassendent.

5. (British,slang,obsolete) Ahunchback.
   • 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, viaCockney 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, atanner.

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

• lady

lord (third-person singular simple presentlords,present participlelording,simple past and past participlelorded)

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

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

2. (transitive) Toinvest with thedignity,power, andprivileges of a lord; to grant thetitle of lord.
   • c.1610–1611,William Shakespeare,The Tempest, act 1, scene 2:

     He being thuslorded / 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”, inThe Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.:The Century Co.,→OCLC.
• “lord”, inOneLook Dictionary Search.

• IPA^(key):/lɔɻʈ/

lord

1. indefiniteaccusativesingular oflordur

Borrowed fromEnglishlord.^[1]

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

lord (plurallordok)

1. anEnglishpeer of the realm ornobleman

• lord inGéza 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 fromEnglishlord.

• 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)

FromOld Englishhlāford,hlāfweard, in turn fromhlāf(“bread, loaf”) +weard(“ward,guardian,keeper”).

• IPA^(key):/lɔːrd/
• (Early Middle English)IPA^(key):/ˈlɔːwərd/,/ˈlɔːvərd/

lord (plurallordes)

1. lord(important man)
   • c.1275,Judas (Roud 2964,Child Ballad 23, Trinity College MS. B.14.39),folio 34, recto, lines22-23; republished atCambridge:Wren Digital Library (Trinity College), 2019 May 29:

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

     "I won't betray myLord 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, lines4538-4539; republished asW. W. Skeat, editor,The Romance of William of Palerne‎^[1],London:Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co.,1867,→OCLC,page145:

     […]to fare out as faſt · wiþ his fader to ſpeke / ⁊ withlordesse ofþatlond · þat him had long miſſed

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

2. Lord(title of God)

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

• “lōrd,n.”, inMED 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.

     (pleaseadd 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.

     (pleaseadd an English translation of this quotation)

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

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

     (pleaseadd an English translation of this quotation)

• Lord

Borrowed fromEnglishlord, fromMiddle Englishlord andlorde, fromlourde, fromlowerd,louerd,loverd,laford,lhoaverd, fromOld Englishhlāford, fromhlāfweard.

• 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 inWielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• lord in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Borrowed fromEnglishlord orFrenchlord.

lord m (plurallorzi)

1. lord

Borrowed fromEnglishlord.

• IPA^(key):/lôrd/

lȍrd m (Cyrillic spellingло̏рд)

1. lord(British title)

• “lord”, inHrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian),2006–2025

Borrowed fromEnglishlord.

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

lord m (plurallores)

1. lord(British title)

• “lord”, inDiccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8,Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish:Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

• lort

FromOttoman Turkishلورد(lord), fromEnglishlord, fromMiddle Englishlord,lorde, fromOld Englishhlāford,hlāfweard, a compound ofhlāf(“bread”) +weard(“guardian”)

• IPA^(key):[ɫoɾd]
• Hyphenation:lord

lord (definite accusativelordu,plurallordlar)

1. lord

   Hypernym:asilzade

2. (slang)filthy rich
3. (rhetoric)big daddy

• Lordlar Kamarası