mainprise

English

Alternative forms

• mainprize

Etymology

From Middle English meynprise, maynprise, from Anglo-Norman mainprise.

Noun

mainprise (countable and uncountable, plural mainprises)

1. (law, historical) A writ directed to the sheriff, commanding him to take sureties, called mainpernors, for the prisoner's appearance, and to let him go at large.
2. (law, historical) Deliverance of a prisoner on security for his appearance at a day.

Verb

mainprise (third-person singular simple present mainprises, present participle mainprising, simple past and past participle mainprised)

1. (transitive, law) To allow (a prisoner) to go at large, on his finding sureties, or mainpernors, for his appearance on a given day.

See also

• hostageship

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 The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.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 “mainprise”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Old French

Alternative forms

• maynprise, meinprise, meynprise

Noun

mainprise oblique singular, f (oblique plural mainprises, nominative singular mainprise, nominative plural mainprises)

1. (Anglo-Norman) mainprise

Related terms

• mainprenour
• mainprenable
• mainprenance
• mainprendre

References

• mainprise on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub
• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (mainprise)