Definitions

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

  • noun An association of persons of the same trade or pursuits, formed to protect mutual interests and maintain standards.
  • noun A similar association, as of merchants or artisans, in medieval times.
  • noun Ecology A group of species in a community that use similar environmental resources in a similar way, such as a group of songbirds that all glean insects from leaves.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • An obsolete spelling of gild.
  • etc. See gild, etc.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun An association of men belonging to the same class, or engaged in kindred pursuits, formed for mutual aid and protection; a business fraternity or corporation. They were originally licensed by the government, and endowed with special privileges and authority.
  • noun obsolete A guildhall.
  • noun A religious association or society, organized for charitable purposes or for assistance in parish work.

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

  • noun A group of tradespeople made up of merchants, craftspeople, or artisans, particularly in the Middle Ages
  • noun biology A group of diverse species that share common characteristics or habits

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a formal association of people with similar interests

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English gild, from Old Norse gildi, payment, guild.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English gilde, from Old Norse gildi ("payment, guild")

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