messuage

Syllables: mes·suage/ˈmɛswɪd͡ʒ/

messuage noun: originally, a plot of land as the site for a dwelling house and its appurtenant interests; now, a dwelling house or residential building together with its outbuildings and assigned land.

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Noun

messuage (plural messuages)

Originally, a plot of land as the site for a dwelling house and its appurtenant interests; now, a dwelling house or residential building together with its outbuildings and assigned land.
- Dying intestate, Juan was sole heir / To a chancery suit, and messuages, and lands, / Which, with a long minority and care, / Promised to turn out well in proper hands: […]1819 July 15, [Lord Byron], Don Juan, London: […] Thomas Davison, […], →OCLC, canto I, stanza XXXVII, page 21
- And be it further ordained and enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That the Right and Title of the said Ecclesiastics of the Seminary of Saint Sulpice of Montreal, in and to all and singular the said Fiefs and Seigniories of the Island of Montreal, of the Lake of the Two Mountains, and of Saint...1840 June 8, C[harles] Poulett Thomson, “An Ordinance to Incorporate the Ecclesiastics of the Seminary of Saint Sulpice of Montreal; […] [No. 164 of 1840]”, in Copy of Ordinances Passed by the...
Synonyms:

mease

Examples of messuage in a sentence

She went—and in one month / They wedded her to sixty thousand pounds, / To lands in Kent and messuages in York, / And slight Sir Robert with his watery smile / And educated whisker.1842, Alfred Tennyson, “[English Idyls and Other Poems. (Published 1842.)] Edwin Morris; or, The Lake”, in Poems, 8th edition, London...
Longebothome paid xxiijˢ iiijᵈ [23s 4d] fine for license of herioting one messuage called Longebothome, one cottage, and 40 acres of land and meadow in Soureby after the death of Ric.1904, Halifax Wills: Being Abstracts and Translations of the Wills Registered at York from the Parish of Halifax, volume 2:

Synonyms of messuage

mease

Forms of messuage

plural	messuages

Origin of messuage

From Late Middle English mesuage, messuage (“dwelling house, residence; farmstead; household”), from Anglo-Norman mesuage, messuage (“residence; holding”), probably from Late Latin mesuagium, messuagium, probably ultimately from Latin mānsiō (“abode, dwelling, habitation, home”) or its etymon mānsus (“having remained or stayed”), the perfect passive participle of maneō (“to abide; to remain, stay”), from Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to remain, stay”). Cognates * Late Latin mansuagium * Old French masuage (“property rented on an annual basis”)

Words formed from messuage

capital messuage

Questions about messuage

What does messuage mean?: Messuage means originally, a plot of land as the site for a dwelling house and its appurtenant interests; now, a dwelling house or residential building together with its outbuildings and assigned land.
How do you use messuage in a sentence?: She went—and in one month / They wedded her to sixty thousand pounds, / To lands in Kent and messuages in York, / And slight Sir Robert with his watery smile / And educated whisker.
What part of speech is messuage?: Messuage is a noun.
How do you pronounce messuage?: Messuage is pronounced /ˈmɛswɪd͡ʒ/ (UK).
What is the plural of messuage?: The plural of messuage is messuages.

Words near messuage in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: messuage (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-messuage.wav.

Cite this entry: “messuage.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/messuage. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.