meed

Etymology 1

From Middle English meede, mede, from Old English mēd, meord, meard, meorþ (“meed, reward, pay, price, compensation, bribe”), from Proto-West Germanic *miʀdu, from Proto-Germanic *mizdō (“meed”), from Proto-Indo-European *misdʰéh₂, from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“to exchange”). Cognate with obsolete Dutch miede (“wages”), Low German mede (“payment, wages, reward”), German Miete (“rent”), Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌶𐌳𐍉 (mizdō, “meed, reward, payment, recompense”), Ancient Greek μισθός (misthós, “wage”), Old Church Slavonic мьзда (mĭzda, “reward”), Sanskrit मीळ्ह (mīḷhá), Sanskrit मीढ (mīḍhá), Avestan 𐬨𐬍𐬲𐬛𐬀 (mīžda).

noun

1. (now literary, archaic) A payment or recompense made for services rendered or in recognition of some achievement; reward, deserts; award.
   Public gratitude, therefore, stamps her seal upon it, and the meed should not be withheld which may here after operate as a stimulus to our gallant tars. 1829, Andrew Jackson, First Annual Message to Congress
   1880, translation by Richard Francis Burton of Os Lusiadas, Canto IX, stanza 93 by Luís de Camões Better to merit and the meed to miss, than, lacking merit, every meed possess.
2. A gift; bribe.
3. (dated) Merit or desert; worth.
   In any case, his life would be in ignominy and would be brief, and he would have lost irretrievably the meed of valour. 1934, Abdullah Yusuf Ali, Commentary on The Holy Qur'an, note 3687 on 33:16

Etymology 2

From Middle English meden, from Old English *mēdian (“to reward, bribe”), from Proto-Germanic *mizdōną (“to reward”), from Proto-Indo-European *misdʰ- (“to pay”). Cognate with Middle Low German mēden (“to reward”), German mieten (“to rent”).

verb

1. (transitive) To reward; bribe.
2. (transitive) To deserve; merit.