thane

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Related to thane: Thane of Cawdor

Tha·ne

or Tha·na (tä′nə)

A city of west-central India, a manufacturing suburb of Mumbai.

thane

(thān)

a. A freeman granted land by the king in return for military service in Anglo-Saxon England.

b. A man ranking above an ordinary freeman and below a nobleman in Anglo-Saxon England.

2. A feudal lord or baron in Scotland.

[Middle English, from Old English thegn; see tek- in Indo-European roots.]

thane′ship′ n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

thane

(θeɪn) or commonly

thegn

1. (Historical Terms) (in Anglo-Saxon England) a member of an aristocratic class, ranking below an ealdorman, whose status was hereditary and who held land from the king or from another nobleman in return for certain services

2. (Historical Terms) (in medieval Scotland)

a. a person of rank, often the chief of a clan, holding land from the king

b. a lesser noble who was a Crown official holding authority over an area of land

[Old English thegn; related to Old Saxon, Old High German thegan thane]

thanage n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

thane

(θeɪn)

n.

1. (in Anglo-Saxon England) a person ranking between an earl and an ordinary freeman, holding land of the king or a lord in return for services.

2. (in medieval Scotland) a person holding land of the king; a baron.

[before 900; late Middle English, Scots variant of Middle English thain, thein, Old English thegn, c. Old Saxon thegan man, Old High German degan servant, warrior, Old Norse thegn subject; akin to Greek téknon child]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun	1.	thane - a feudal lord or baron Scotland - one of the four countries that make up the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; located on the northern part of the island of Great Britain; famous for bagpipes and plaids and kilts noble, nobleman, Lord - a titled peer of the realm
	2.	thane - a man ranking above an ordinary freeman and below a noble in Anglo-Saxon England (especially one who gave military service in exchange for land) citizen - a native or naturalized member of a state or other political community

Translations

Than

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References in classic literature ?

So when night fell she hastened to the hall, and carried off Hrothgar's best loved thane.

Then was the prudent king, the hoary warrior, sad of mood, when he learned that his princely thane, the dearest to him, no longer lived.

And when the hall was built, there night by night the thanes gathered and rejoiced with their King; and there, when the feast was over, they lay them down to sleep.

"The grim and greedy one was soon prepared, savage and fierce, and in sleep he seized upon thirty of the thanes, and thence he again departed exulting in his prey, to go home with the carcases of the slain, to reach his own dwelling.

"The mighty prince, a noble of old goodness, sat unblithe; the strong in armies suffered, the thanes endured sorrow, after they beheld the track of the hated one, the accursed spirit."

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One of these seats was at present occupied by Cedric the Saxon, who, though but in rank a thane, or, as the Normans called him, a Franklin, felt, at the delay of his evening meal, an irritable impatience, which might have become an alderman, whether of ancient or of modern times.

Besides these subjects of anxiety, the Saxon thane was impatient for the presence of his favourite clown Wamba, whose jests, such as they were, served for a sort of seasoning to his evening meal, and to the deep draughts of ale and wine with which he was in the habit of accompanying it.

* aldermen and thanes. But the term cnicht, now spelt knight,

View in context

"That am I; and the son of Edric the Socman, of the pure blood of Godfrey the thane, by the only daughter of the house of Aluric, whose forefathers held the white-horse banner at the fatal fight where our shield was broken and our sword shivered.

"Yet can I," said Alleyne smiling; "for indeed I also am the son of Edric the Socman, of the pure blood of Godfrey the thane, by the only daughter of Aluric of Brockenhurst.

For a moment the blood of the long line of hot-headed thanes was too strong for the soft whisperings of the doctrine of meekness and mercy.

View in context

The room suggested men, and Margaret, keen to derive the modern capitalist from the warriors and hunters of the past, saw it as an ancient guest-hall, where the lord sat at meat among his thanes. Even the Bible--the Dutch Bible that Charles had brought back from the Boer War--fell into position.