messuage

[ mes-wij ]

noun

, Law.

1. a dwelling house with its adjacent buildings and the lands appropriated to the use of the household.

messuage

/ ˈmɛswɪdʒ /

noun

1. property law a dwelling house together with its outbuildings, curtilage, and the adjacent land appropriated to its use

Word History and Origins

Origin of messuage¹

1350–1400; Middle English < Anglo-French, misreading ( n taken as u ) of Old French mesnage ménage ( def )

Word History and Origins

Origin of messuage¹

C14: from Norman French: household, perhaps through misspelling of Old French mesnage ménage

Example Sentences

The morning sun descended like an amber shower-bath on Blandings Castle, lighting up with a heartening glow its ivied walls, its rolling parks, its gardens, outhouses, and messuages ...

From The Guardian

There was a place so called in Perthshire; but then it never was occupied by people of that name,—the Bowers being an old family in Angus, whose principal messuage was Kincaldrum.

From Project Gutenberg

“Yes, I; master of the houses, and lands, tenements, messuages, and all the rest of it; above all, my little struggling pet, master of you.”

From Project Gutenberg

For them, my dear Jack, you must have messuages and tenements, and outhouses, townlands, and turbaries; corn, cattle, and cottages; pigs, potatoes, and peasantry.

From Project Gutenberg

Wynkyn de Worde, the father of printing in England, lived in Fleet Street, at his messuage or inn known by the sign of the Falcon.

From Project Gutenberg