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Demesne   Listen
Demesne

noun
(Written also demain)
1.
Extensive landed property (especially in the country) retained by the owner for his own use.  Synonyms: acres, estate, land, landed estate.
2.
Territory over which rule or control is exercised.  Synonyms: domain, land.  "He made it the law of the land"






WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University








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"Demesne" Quotes from Famous Books



... the Eighth. As there generally is some resemblance of character to create these relations, the favorite was in all likelihood much such another as his master. The first of those immoderate grants was not taken from the ancient demesne of the crown, but from the recent confiscation of the ancient nobility of the land. The lion, having sucked the blood of his prey, threw the offal carcass to the jackal in waiting. Having tasted once the food of confiscation, the favorites became fierce and ...
— The Ontario Readers: The High School Reader, 1886 • Ministry of Education

... of the king, which held per baroniam, (by the right of a baron,) and did suit and service (served as judges) at his own court; and the burghers and tenants in ancient demesne, that did suit and service (served as jurors or judges) in their own court in person), and in the king's by proxy, there was also a set of freeholders, that did suit aud service (served as jurors) at the county court. These were such as anciently ...
— An Essay on the Trial By Jury • Lysander Spooner

... and pretended to none, openly indeed "detested music," and was unable to distinguish Mendelssohn from Wagner, "except by the noise;" while if a bolder man than the rest rashly ventured on the literary ground that was her special demesne, she either smiled at what he said, in a disagreeably sarcastic way, or flatly contradicted him. She was the thorn in the flesh of these young men; and after having dutifully spent a few awkward moments at her side, they stole back, one by one, to the opposite end of the room. Here Ephie, ...
— Maurice Guest • Henry Handel Richardson

... Brittany, where they had held, in the eighteenth century, large possessions, particularly some extensive forests, which still bear their name. The grandfather of Louis, the Comte Herve de Camors, had, on his return from the emigration, bought back a small part of the hereditary demesne. There he established himself in the old-fashioned style, and nourished until his death incurable prejudices against the French Revolution and ...
— Monsieur de Camors, Complete • Octave Feuillet

... through the garden to the wicket that parted her demesne from the formal, wide pleasure-sweeps. He stopped for a moment under the ...
— Foes • Mary Johnston

... including a portion of the old Pyncheon property, originally belonging to Maule's garden ground. It has been alienated from the Pyncheons these four-score years; but the Judge had kept it in his eye, and had set his heart on reannexing it to the small demesne still left around the Seven Gables; and now, during this odd fit of oblivion, the fatal hammer must have fallen, and transferred our ancient patrimony to some alien possessor. Possibly, indeed, ...
— The House of the Seven Gables • Nathaniel Hawthorne

... mysteries surrounding Chateau Courance, but it is believed that none ever met with success until a very recent period. The authorities always interfered by virtue of a royal mandate, still on the statute-books of France, which forbids any entry to the demesne of Courance without the express consent of the count or his intendant. Furthermore, a superstitious dread of any approach to the place prevails among the people, and this feeling has been strong enough to defeat the several secret ...
— Lippincott's Magazine, Vol. 20, August 1877 • Various

... Majesty, who laughed awhile, and then said: "Now I wish him to know my object in sending those letters of naturalisation. Go and install him lord of the castle of the Little Nello, where he lives, and which is a part of my demesne, He will know what that means better than he understood about the letters of naturalisation." A messenger brought me the patent, upon which I wanted to give him a gratuity. He refused to accept it, saying that his Majesty had ...
— The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini • Benvenuto Cellini

... this intention of the Baron, he determined, if possible, to become the owner of this extensive demesne. His mind was sufficiently alive to the importance of this railroad movement to convince him that the real estate in proximity to the line of the road must necessarily increase in value, and he also realized the necessity of seeing the Baron without ...
— Bucholz and the Detectives • Allan Pinkerton

... BOLDEN BOOK. As this ancient document gives the first trace of the Washington family, it merits especial mention. In 1183, a survey was made by order of Bishop de Pusaz of all the lands of the see held in demesne, or by tenants in villanage. The record was entered in a book called the Bolden Buke; the parish of Bolden occurring first in alphabetical arrangement. The document commences in the following manner: Incipit liber qui vocatur Bolden Book. Anno ...
— The Life of George Washington, Volume I • Washington Irving

... and trethings, shall stand at the old rents, without any increase, except in our demesne manors. ...
— Civil Government in the United States Considered with - Some Reference to Its Origins • John Fiske

... grown up—with large old timber. Near it you found the walled garden, and then entered a close wood fringing one of the small lakes with which the whole country is pitted. Then came the wall of the demesne, and you climbed a steep knoll—a knob of rock lightly covered with soil—and on the top of this stood the church, fenced in with tall dark trees. It was a curious building to English eyes. The nave and aisles were low, and filled ...
— Ghost Stories of an Antiquary • Montague Rhodes James

... Stella. She strayed away last night. Susan didn't miss her till the mornin'. She found her just inside the gates of the demesne—by old Lizzie's lodge. She was soaked wid rain an' in a dead faint. I wonder Susan ventured with that blackguard about. She brought Miss Stella to and helped or carried her back. She's wanderin' like in her mind ever ...
— Love of Brothers • Katharine Tynan

... the vicarage was to be in the gift of the Bishop of London. The Abbot's manor was leased to William Walwyn in the beginning of the sixteenth century. It afterwards was held by the Grenvilles, who had obtained the reversion. In 1564 the tithes and demesne lands were separated from the manor and rectory, which were still held by the Grenvilles. The tithes passed through the hands of many people in succession, as did also the manor. In 1595 one Robert Horseman was the lessee under the Crown. The Queen sold the estate to Walter ...
— The Kensington District - The Fascination of London • Geraldine Edith Mitton

... were more than the good lady could utter. All things are comparative, and to one whose assured income had been 70 pounds a year, 800 pounds was unbounded wealth; to one who had spent her life in schoolrooms and lodgings, the Gap was a lordly demesne. ...
— More Bywords • Charlotte M. Yonge

... the Earl of Coventry the strange fact that the Earl of Devon's harriers last week gave chase, in his demesne, to an unhappy donkey, whom they tore to pieces before they could be called off; upon which his lordship asked for a piece of chalk and a slate, and composed the following jeu ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 1, Complete • Various

... And in some cases people who could afford it will not spend the money. There are, however, notable exceptions. Powerscourt in Wicklow, the seat of Viscount Powerscourt, and Woodstock in Kilkenny, the beautiful demesne of Mr. Tighe, are probably in as perfect order as any seats in England. A countryman was sent over to the latter one day with a message from another county. "Well, Jerry," said the master on his return, "what did you think of ...
— Lippincott's Magazine Of Popular Literature And Science, No. 23, February, 1873, Vol. XI. • Various

... boundaries of Richmond Park; and, little more than half a mile from the house of Pitt, in one of the most picturesque situations of that beautiful demesne, stands the elegant mansion which was presented, it is said, to the then favourite minister, Mr. Addington. Thus it appears, that two succeeding ministers of England, in an age reputed enlightened, lived in a district possessing the described capabilities for removing ...
— A Morning's Walk from London to Kew • Richard Phillips

... nearly five miles from the station. Its ruined castle, dating from the end of the fourteenth century, with its lofty octagonal donjon, nearly a hundred feet high, standing on a high "motte" or artificial mound, has a most imposing appearance. Bricquebec, the most considerable demesne of the Cotentins, was taken by King Henry V. from the Sire d'Estouteville, who had so gallantly defended Mont St. Michel against him. Henry gave Bricquebec to William de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, the ill-fated favourite of Queen Margaret of Anjou, and he, on being taken prisoner ...
— Brittany & Its Byways • Fanny Bury Palliser

... all the lands therein; on the contrary, if he were, there would be no manor; for a manor cannot subsist without a court baron, and there can be no such court unless there are freehold tenants (at least two in number) holding of the lord. The land retained by the lord consists of his own demesne and the wastes, which last comprise the highways and commons. If the lord should alienate all the lands, but retain his lordship, the latter ...
— Notes and Queries, Number 231, April 1, 1854 • Various

... back out of the inmost heart of the whole demesne gives genuineness of sentiment to the entire scheme. To plant a conflagration of color against the back fence and stop there would be worse than melodramatic. It would be to close the play with a bang, and even a worthy one-act play does not close with a bang. ...
— The Amateur Garden • George W. Cable

... less exclusive. Most of the houses in St. Etienne, like their own, had no property dividing line, but lawn melted into lawn with a park-like openness that hinted at communistic kindliness. This had its disadvantages in lack of privacy, and hence it was that in spite of quite an extensive demesne, Lena found in her own garden no spot absolutely hidden from curious eyes of passers, except in one thicket of trees and shrubbery over near the Early boundary. Here there was seclusion, and here, therefore, young Mrs. Percival had her hammock and her group of chairs and tables; and ...
— Jewel Weed • Alice Ames Winter

... object that touches it, whether it be the cart that ploughs the wave for sea-weed, or the boat or plank that rides upon it, but is brought at once from the demesne of coarse utilities into that of picture. All trades, all callings, become picturesque by the water's side, or on the water. The soil, the slovenliness, is washed out of every calling by its touch. All river-crafts, sea-crafts, are picturesque, are poetical. ...
— At Home And Abroad - Or, Things And Thoughts In America and Europe • Margaret Fuller Ossoli

... Usually the forlorn demesne was supervised by a mangy waiter brooding over mangy tables and by a mangier cat who kept a furtive eye on the placarded list of each day's plat du jour and wondered when her turn would come for Thursday's Saute de lapin. But tables, cat and waiter cast manginess aside when we(the pride ...
— The Beloved Vagabond • William J. Locke

... flowing stream, winding itself like a flood of glittering silver between the black shadows of its banks. A little while I sat there listening, and surveying the stately, turreted chateau that loomed, a grey, noble pile, beyond the water. I speculated what demesne this might be, and I realized that it was ...
— Bardelys the Magnificent • Rafael Sabatini

... were sharers in her bounty. She would buy the books of some specially favored and instal them at home again as "her librarians." Only one or two, D'Alembert, Raynal, stood aloof, with the mistrustful Jean Jacques, who refused the demesne of Gatschina. Diderot came to St. Petersburg in those days, declaiming for two, three, five hours with unmatched copiousness of discourse, astounding Catharine with his large argument and fiery eloquence, and entertaining her hugely by his oblivion of everything once fairly launched ...
— The Great Events by Famous Historians, v. 13 • Various

... superstition-saturated Spain; while eager workmen are demolishing the last hiding-places of monkery, and letting the daylight into places that have well kept the frightful secrets of three hundred years, and turning the ancient cloister demesne into public parks and pleasure-grounds,—the Romish priesthood here, in free Bavaria, seem to imagine that they cannot only resist the progress of events, but that they can actually bring back ...
— Baddeck and That Sort of Thing • Charles Dudley Warner

... they found the day proved unfavourable to their interests and fled towards Wexford, leaving the deluded wretches to be cut in pieces. The engagement lasted two hours and an half—the Soldiers merited the cloth they wore, and gloried in the name of WILLIAM. Our Brigade remained all night in the demesne of Harvey Hay, one of the Rebel Chiefs: next day we returned to Houlet again, where we encamped for two days. The scouting parties killed more after the different engagements than what fell in Battle—many of their Commanders, were taken and hanged. We have suffered much from lying on the ...
— An Impartial Narrative of the Most Important Engagements Which Took Place Between His Majesty's Forces and the Rebels, During the Irish Rebellion, 1798. • John Jones

... since his father's death), Caesar Desmond accompanied him. Then it seemed to John that his cup brimmed, that everything he desired had been granted unto him. Verney Boscobel stood in the heart of the great forest, one of the few large manors within that splendid demesne. The boys arrived at Lyndhurst Road Station late in the evening, long after dusk, and were driven in darkness through Bartley and Minstead up to the high-lying moors of Stoneycross. Next morning, early, John woke his friend, and opened ...
— The Hill - A Romance of Friendship • Horace Annesley Vachell

... entered it gave them cheerfulness. It was a pleasant fertile spot, well wooded, and rich in pasture. After winding along it for more than a mile, they reached their own house. A small green court was the whole of its demesne in front; and a neat wicket gate admitted ...
— Persuasion • Jane Austen

... believe of Lizzie Eustace, and that no calamity could be so great as that by which he would be overwhelmed were he still to allow himself to be forced into that marriage. "It would be better," Mrs. Hittaway had said, "to retire to Ireland at once, and cultivate your demesne in Tipperary." This was a grievous sentence, and one which had greatly excited the brother's wrath;—but it had shown how very strong was his sister's opinion against the lady to whom he had unfortunately offered his hand. Then there came to him ...
— The Eustace Diamonds • Anthony Trollope

... and somewhat more than twenty miles from the ancient town of Chester, in a southward direction, there stood a large, and, even then, an old-fashioned mansion-house. It lay in the midst of a demesne of considerable extent, and richly wooded with venerable timber; but, apart from the somber majesty of these giant groups, and the varieties of the undulating ground on which they stood, there was little that could be ...
— The Evil Guest • J. Sheridan Le Fanu

... travelled in the realms of gold, And many goodly states and kingdoms seen; Round many western islands have I been Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold. Oft of one wide expanse had I been told That deep-browed Homer ruled as his demesne; Yet did I never breathe its pure serene Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold: Then felt I like some watcher of the skies When a new planet swims into his ken; Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes He stared at the Pacific—and all his ...
— English Literature - Its History and Its Significance for the Life of the English Speaking World • William J. Long



Words linked to "Demesne" :   real property, khanate, land, realm, country, sheikhdom, leasehold, principality, archduchy, fiefdom, plantation, feoff, immovable, dukedom, earldom, region, homestead, countryseat, real estate, duchy, hacienda, smallholding, emirate, signory, viscounty, suzerainty, sheikdom, realty, domain, princedom, kingdom, imperium, manor, landed estate, glebe, empire, fief, seigniory, seigneury, grand duchy, entail, barony, Crown land, freehold, state



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