ˈmēd noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English med, meed, from Old English mēd; akin to Old English meord recompense, reward, wage, Old Saxon mēda, Old High German miata, mieta, Gothic mizdo, Greek misthos, Old Slavic mĭzda, mŭzda reward, Sanskrit mīḍha prize, reward, contest
1.
a. archaic : the reward or wage earned by labor, service, or merit
service … needs a receiver as well as a giver and thrives on some small meed of welcome or honor — Freya Stark
as long as slugs abound in the garden, good carbolic acid should not lack its meed of honor — C.E.Montague
b. : the proper prize of excellence or fine performance : fitting return
pay my meed of tribute to him — Edna R. Johnson
the old man loves us and we give him the meed of our admiration — Western Folklore
might pay, to the dead impresario, the meed of parting tears — J.B.Cabell & A.J.Hanna
c. : just desert : fit recompense
had suffered the meed of his inhospitable conduct — G.B.Shaw
d. : amount , portion
the plants of the jungle won success … by adapting their needs to the starvation meed of air and light — William Beebe
breed their own small meed of juvenile delinquency — Sean O'Faolain
2. archaic : bribery offered or received : illicit gain
3. obsolete : merit , worth