Dictionary

mead hall en · NOUN

Etymology

Revived from Old English meduheall.

Meanings

1. A large communal building used in early Germanic and Norse societies as a place for feasting, drinking, socializing, and governance, serving also as the residence of a chieftain or king and symbolising the heart of the community or tribe.
   • he handed down orders for men to work on a great mead-hall meant to be a wonder of the world forever. 1999, Seamus Heaney, Beowulf, London: Faber and Faber, page 5:
   • I have [...] stopped on my way home at the mead halls of the Franks across the sea. 1961, Norma Lorre Goodrich, The Medieval Myths, New York: The New American Library, page 18:

Forms

Relateds

drink hall · mead-bench