amerce

American  

[uh-murs] / əˈmɜrs /

verb (used with object)

amerced, amercing

1. to punish by imposing a fine not fixed by statute.

2. to punish by inflicting any discretionary or arbitrary penalty.

---

amerce British  

/ əˈmɜːs /

verb

1. law to punish by a fine

2. to punish with any arbitrary penalty

---

Other Word Forms

• amerceable adjective
• amercement noun
• amercer noun
• unamerceable adjective
• unamerced adjective

Etymology

Origin of amerce

1250–1300; Middle English amercy < Anglo-French amerci ( er ) to fine, representing ( estre ) a merci (to be) at (someone's) mercy. See a- ⁵, mercy

Explanation

To amerce is to impose a fine on someone as punishment. During the Middle Ages, the King might amerce you if you trespassed on his land to retrieve a lost ball. The word amerce was more common in medieval times, although it's still used in a legal context, along with amercement. Today when a court amerces someone, it legally orders them to pay a fine after finding them guilty of wrongdoing. The word comes from the French a merci, or "at the mercy," referring to the fact that a person facing amercement is at the mercy of the court.

Example Sentences

But Plato here, O Athenians! and Crito Critobulus, and Apollodorus bid me amerce myself in thirty minæ, and they offer to be sureties.

From Apology, Crito, and Phaedo of Socrates by Cary, Henry

But perhaps I could pay you a mina of silver: in that sum, then, I amerce myself.

From Apology, Crito, and Phaedo of Socrates by Cary, Henry

But ile amerce you with so strong a fine, That you shall all repent the losse of mine.

From Shakespeare in the Theatre by Poel, William

The words achieve, agree, amerce, amount, acquit, acquaint, avow, &c. show the same prefix, derived through the medium of Old French.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various

One came whose art men’s dread of are repressed: Mangled and writhing limb he lulled to rest, And stingless left the old Semitic curse; Him, too, for these blest gifts did Zeus amerce?

From Sir James Young Simpson and Chloroform (1811-1870) Masters of Medicine by Gordon, Henry Laing