mainpernor

English

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “mainpernor”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Alternative forms

mainpernour (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English meynpernour, from Anglo-Norman mainprenour, from mainprendre +‎ -our. See modern French main, preneur.

Noun

mainpernor (plural mainpernors)

(law, historical) In England in the Middle Ages, a surety (kind of guarantor), under the old writ of mainprise, for a prisoner's appearance in court at a day.