Definition of "guerdon"
guerdon
noun
plural guerdons
(now literary) A reward, prize or recompense for a service; an accolade.
Quotations
Is this the guerdon wherewithall ye quite my fruitfulnesse?Is this the honor that ye gave for my plenteousnesseAnd dutie done with true intent?
1567, Ovid, “The Seconde Booke”, in Arthur Golding, transl., The XV. Bookes of P. Ouidius Naso, Entytuled Metamorphosis, […], London: […] Willyam Seres […], lines 361–63
Done to death by slanderous tonguesWas the Hero that here lies:Death, in guerdon of her wrongs,Gives her fame which never dies.
1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act V, scene iii]
Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise(That last infirmity of noble mind)To scorn delights and live laborious days;But the fair guerdon when we hope to find,And think to burst out into sudden blaze,Comes the blind Fury with th'abhorred shears,And slits the thin-spun life.
1637, John Milton, “Lycidas”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646
I had some faint recollection of having a penny-piece in my waistcoat pocket, and, pleased with the service he had rendered to us, I gave it him as his guerdon. "Thank ye, sir—thank ye, sir—thank ye, sir," he cried, and immediately returned to his station near the footway.
1826 April 22, “G.”, “The Dukedom (from ‘The News of Literature and Fashion, Science and Art.’)”, in The Spirit of the Times; or, Essence of the Periodicals; Concentrating Every Week, All that is Worthy (as Strictly Regarding the Time) of Being Preserved, from the Whole of Our Newspapers, Magazines, &c., volume I, number XXIX, London: Printed by Milne, Banfield, and Duckworth [...] for J. Scott, page 436, column 1
You treat me like a slave, and bid me bow to my master! Is this the guerdon of a free maiden—is this the price of a life’s passion?
1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 73, in The History of Pendennis. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850
Melanie might have given him his new coat but this sash was her gift, her own secret guerdon for him to wear into battle, something that would make him remember her every time he looked at it.
1936 June 30, Margaret Mitchell, chapter 15, in Gone with the Wind, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; republished New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, 1944,
verb
third-person singular simple present guerdons, present participle guerdoning, simple past and past participle guerdoned