Word.ws English Dictionary

Speenhamland system

Speenhamland system proper noun: a form of outdoor relief intended to mitigate rural poverty in England and Wales around the beginning of the 19th century.

Proper noun

the Speenhamland system

  1. (historical) A form of outdoor relief intended to mitigate rural poverty in England and Wales around the beginning of the 19th century.

Origin of Speenhamland system

Named after a 1795 meeting in Speenhamland, Berkshire, where local magistrates devised the system.

Questions about Speenhamland system

What does Speenhamland system mean?
Speenhamland system means a form of outdoor relief intended to mitigate rural poverty in England and Wales around the beginning of the 19th century.
What part of speech is Speenhamland system?
Speenhamland system is a proper noun.

Words near Speenhamland system in the dictionary

  1. Speelman
  2. Speelmans
  3. speels
  4. Speen
  5. Speenhamland
  6. Speenhamland system
  7. speer
  8. speered
  9. speering
  10. speerings
  11. speerit

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Speenhamland system (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.

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