Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • An Anglo-Saxon kingdom of central England. It was settled by Angles c. AD 500 and enjoyed its greatest influence during the rule (757–796) of Offa. In 874 the kingdom was overrun by the Danes and split between Wessex and the Danelaw.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun one of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latinization of Old English Mierce (literally "border people").

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word Mercia.

Examples

  • Somewheresouth … 70 would’nt happen to be the FULL ISSI number for your force would it?, like West Mercia is 20xxxxx, Staffs 21xxxxx - I’d be interested if it was as there might be some sort of priority on the system thinking you are trying to contact someone out of force?

    What is going on ear? « POLICE INSPECTOR BLOG Inspector Gadget 2006

  • They went thence into one of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms called Mercia, the inhabitants of the country not being able to oppose any effectual obstacle to their marauding march.

    King Alfred of England Abbott, Jacob, 1803-1879 1849

  • Anglo-Saxon kingdoms called Mercia, the inhabitants of the country not being able to oppose any effectual obstacle to their marauding march.

    King Alfred of England Makers of History Jacob Abbott 1841

  • I live in 'Mercia' but, I must admit, I'd not heard of Cearl before so thankyou for bringing him back into the limelight, as it were ;

    Cearl, King of the Mercians Carla 2009

  • It was later known not under a Germanic or Celtic name, but under the low Latin name of "Mercia" that is the "Borderland."

    Europe and the Faith "Sine auctoritate nulla vita" Hilaire Belloc 1911

  • His mother, Mercia Doughty, had worked as a nurse at Newark hospital, whose new endoscopy centre and pre-operative assessment unit he helped fund with a £1m donation.

    Nigel Doughty obituary 2012

  • One of the best surviving Saxon churches, All Saints Brixworth in Northamptonshire, was also built partly out of reused Roman bricks, a remnant of the great building campaign begun by Bishop Saxulf of Mercia in 675.

    Early medieval architecture: a story of castles and churches 2011

  • Simon Chesterman, assistant ch con, W Mercia police.

    New Year honours: the full list 2011

  • The picture is from when West Mercia rolled out the new uniforms.

    And for my next trick……. « POLICE INSPECTOR BLOG Inspector Gadget 2009

  • Chesterman, who works in West Mercia police and leads policy on armed policing for the Association of Chief Police Officers, told the hearing in Workington: I think the public have a right to expect the emergency services to put themselves at risk in order to protect them.

    Derrick Bird 'could not have been stopped sooner' 2011

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.