Definition of "muniment"

muniment

/ˈmjuːnɪmənt/

noun
plural muniments
1. (chiefly law) A deed, or other official document kept as proof of ownership or rights or privileges; an archived document.
  Quotations
  hauing the said deedes, euidences, muniments, terriers, and writinges in their hands […]
  1594, William West, Symboleography […]
  Then, on the order of King Darius, a search was made in Babylonia in the muniment rooms where the archives were kept […]
  1966, Jerusalem Bible, Ezra 6:1, London: Darton, Longman & Todd
2. (obsolete, in the plural) Things which a person or place is equipped with; effects, furnishings, accoutrements.
  Quotations
  Vpon a day as ſhe him ſate beſide, / By chance he certaine miniments forth drew, / Which yet with him as relickes did abide / Of all the bounty which Belphebe threw / On him, whilſt goodly grace ſhe did him ſhew: […]
  1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Qveene: Disposed into Twelue Books, Fashioning XII. Morall Vertues, London: Printed [by Richard Field] for VVilliam Ponsonbie, book IV, canto VIII, stanza VI
3. (obsolete) Something used as a defence.
  Quotations
  other muniments and petty helps
  c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene i]

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