guerdon
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: gûrʹdn
ipa: /ˈɡəː.dən/
ipa: /ˈɡɝ.dən/
Forms: form: guerdons
form: gerdon
Etymology: From Middle English guerdon, guerdoun, gardone, from Old French guerdon, guerredon, guarredon, werdon, from Medieval Latin widerdōnum, alteration of widerlōnum, from West Germanic (whence Old High German widarlōn, Old English wiþerlēan), literally ‘back-payment’, with the second element assimilated to Latin dōnum (“gift”).
Senses: examples: text: For would she of her gentlenesse,
Withouten more, me ones kesse,
It were to me a great guerdoon.
Release of all my passion […]
ref: c. 1366, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Romaunt of the Rose, ll. 2607-10:
text: Is this the guerdon wherewithall ye quite my fruitfulnesse?
Is this the honor that ye gave for my plenteousnesse
And dutie done with true intent?
ref: 1567, Ovid, “The Seconde Booke”, in Arthur Golding, transl., The XV. Bookes of P. Ouidius Naso, Entytuled Metamorphosis, […], London: […] Willyam Seres […], →OCLC, lines 361–63:
text: Done to death by slanderous tongues
Was the Hero that here lies:
Death, in guerdon of her wrongs,
Gives her fame which never dies.
ref: 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]:
text: He hearkned, and did stay from further harmes,
To gayne so goodly guerdon, as she spake […]
ref: 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto XV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
text: Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise
(That last infirmity of noble mind)
To scorn delights and live laborious days;
But the fair guerdon when we hope to find,
And think to burst out into sudden blaze,
Comes the blind Fury with th'abhorred shears,
And slits the thin-spun life.
ref: 1637, John Milton, “Lycidas”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC:
text: Verse, like the laurel its immortal meed,
Should be the guerdon of a noble deed
ref: 1782, William Cowper, “Charity”, in Poems by William Cowper, of the Inner Temple, Esq.:
text: "That will I do blithely," replied the Pilgrim, "and without guerdon; my oath, for a time, prohibits me from touching gold."
ref: 1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC:
text: I had some faint recollection of having a penny-piece in my waistcoat pocket, and, pleased with the service he had rendered to us, I gave it him as his guerdon. "Thank ye, sir—thank ye, sir—thank ye, sir," he cried, and immediately returned to his station near the footway.
ref: 1826 April 22, “G.”, “The Dukedom (from ‘The News of Literature and Fashion, Science and Art.’)”, in The Spirit of the Times; or, Essence of the Periodicals; Concentrating Every Week, All that is Worthy (as Strictly Regarding the Time) of Being Preserved, from the Whole of Our Newspapers, Magazines, &c., volume I, number XXIX, London: Printed by Milne, Banfield, and Duckworth … for J. Scott, →OCLC, page 436, column 1:
text: "Here, minstrel, drive bad thoughts away! Sing! Take
"My glove for guerdon!"
ref: 1840, Robert Browning, Sordello, Book IV:
text: You treat me like a slave, and bid me bow to my master! Is this the guerdon of a free maiden—is this the price of a life’s passion?
ref: 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 73, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:
text: Sons of honour, nobly fathered, scions of the sturdy brood,Who from age to age have gathered strength and duty in the blood,Strength to bear the distressed burden, duty which has cost them dear—Wounds for wage and death for guerdon—Lo! the final hour is here. […]
ref: 1917, Cecil Arthur Spring Rice, Poems “To the American People”
text: Melanie might have given him his new coat but this sash was her gift, her own secret guerdon for him to wear into battle, something that would make him remember her every time he looked at it.
ref: 1936 June 30, Margaret Mitchell, chapter 15, in Gone with the Wind, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC; republished New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, 1944, →OCLC:
glosses: A reward, prize or recompense for a service; an accolade.