Definitions

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

  • noun Law Documentary evidence by which one can defend a title to property or a claim to rights.
  • noun Archaic A means of defense or protection.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A fortification of any kind; a stronghold; a place of defense.
  • noun Support; defense.
  • noun A document by which claims and rights are defended or maintained; a title-deed; a deed, charter, record, etc., especially such as belong to public bodies, or those in which national, manorial, or ecclesiastical rights and privileges are concerned.
  • noun Any article preserved or treasured as of special interest or value, as jewels, relies, etc.

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

  • noun obsolete The act of supporting or defending.
  • noun That which supports or defends; stronghold; place or means of defense; munition; assistance.
  • noun (Law) A record; the evidences or writings whereby a man is enabled to defend the title to his estate; title deeds and papers.
  • noun that room in a cathedral, castle, or other public building, which is used for keeping the records, charters, seals, deeds, and the like.

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

  • noun obsolete A deed; a document that proves ownership of a property, or a right or privilege.

Etymologies

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

[Middle English, from Old French, from Medieval Latin mūnīmentum, from Latin, defense, protection, from mūnīre, to fortify; see munition.]

Support

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

Examples

  • China bade record this tale, so they recorded it and placed it in the royal muniment-rooms; after which he bestowed costly robes of honour upon the Jew, the Nazarene and the Reeve, and bade them depart in all esteem.

    The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night 2006

  • So Ali related to him all his adventures and the Commander of the Faithful bade record them and lay them up in the royal muniment-rooms.

    The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night 2006

  • Kalandars to be recorded in the archives and be set in the royal muniment-chambers.

    The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night 2006

  • The Caliph wondered at her words and bade the tale be recorded and chronicled and laid up in his muniment-chambers. —

    The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night 2006

  • When it was morning, the Caliph gave orders to record the history of what had befallen Ghanim from first to last and to deposit it in the royal muniment rooms, that those who came after him might read it and marvel at the dealings of Destiny and put their trust in Him who created the night and the day.

    The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night 2006

  • We seem to understand apad vellumtomes muniment, Arans Duhkha, among hoseshoes, cheriotiers and etceterogenious bargainbout-barrows, ofver and umnder, since, evenif or although, in double preposition as in triple conjunction, how the mudden research in the topaia that was Mankaylands has gone to prove from the picalava present in the maramara melma that while a successive generation has been in the deep deep deeps of Deepereras.

    Finnegans Wake 2006

  • ‘Well! because I have had a muniment put up in the bar,’ returned the Captain.

    The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit 2006

  • When I suggested to Mr Snilam that I supposed they might now all go back to the Greshamsbury muniment room, I thought he would have fainted.

    Doctor Thorne 2004

  • Chatterton claimed to have transcribed this poetry, which was written in a plausible pastiche of late Middle English, from old parchments found in the muniment room of the parish church of St. Mary Redcliffe, where his father had been a lay clerk.

    The Marvelous Boy Lodge, David 1988

  • Whether this cousinship by marriage led to any personal acquaintance between 'old Sarah 'and Harry Fielding we do not know; and the muniment room at Blenheim affords no trace of any correspondence between the Duchess and her champion.

    Henry Fielding: a Memoir G. M. Godden

Comments

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

  • "Shall we be allowed to read it now it's finished?" asked Denis.

    Mr. Wimbush nodded. "Certainly," he said. "And I hope you will not find it uninteresting," he added modestly. "Our muniment room is particularly rich in ancient records, and I have some genuinely new light to throw on the introduction of the three-pronged fork."

    - Aldous Huxley, Crome Yellow

    March 29, 2008