Join free

mease

English · Español

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

mease¹

  • /miːz/

Where it comes from

The English Dialect Dictionary suggests Old Norse meiss (“wooden box, as would be used for counting fish”) as a source; The Century Dictionary suggests that the term comes via Old French from a Latin word *mesa (“barrel”). One can also compare German Mass (“measure”) and indeed measure itself.

noun meases

  1. UK, dated, dialectal A measure of varying quantity, often five or six (long or short) hundred, used especially when counting herring. a mease of herrings

mease²

  • /miːz/

Where it comes from

Variant of mess / mese.

noun meases

  1. obsolete A mess, a mese: a meal. I want my mease of milk when I go to my work.

mease³

  • /miːz/

Where it comes from

Presumably related to messuage.

noun meases

  1. obsolete A dwelling or messuage. 1628, July 15, was a Gild new erected by four young bachelors of the town, and kept at the college-house, of above twenty meases of persons, and the poor then well relieved.

mease⁴

  • /miːz/

Where it comes from

From mesh?

noun meases

  1. obsolete Obsolete spelling of mesh (of a fishing net). In the records of the series of trials which began soon afterwards, the following interesting description of a Mount's Bay seine in the seventeenth century is given: "Saynes are very long and deep nets, of a close or narrow mease, and lengthened at each end by sleeves of a larger mease, and are used

verb meases · measing · meased

  1. To catch or enmesh (fish) by the head in a seine. ( […] and except also fish meased in the sleeves of certain nets, called seynes), of which no tithes are demanded; […]

Mease⁵

Where it comes from

A patronymic from May or a variant of Meece.

proper noun Meases

  1. A surname.

Talk about this word

Cite this
MLA

"mease." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/mease. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

mease. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/mease

Chicago

"mease." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/mease.

BibTeX
@misc{mease_2026,
  title = {mease},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/mease},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}