Crossword clues for wapentake
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Wapentake \Wap"en*take\ (?; 277), n. [AS. w?penge??c,
w?pent[=a]c, from Icel. v[=a]pnat[=a]k, literally, a weapon
taking or weapon touching, hence an expression of assent
(``si displicuit sententia fremitu aspernantur; sin placuit
frameas concutiunt.''
--Tacitus, ``Germania,'' xi.). See
Weapon, and Take. This name had its origin in a custom of
touching lances or spears when the hundreder, or chief,
entered on his office. ``Cum quis accipiebat pr[ae]fecturam
wapentachii, die statuto in loco ubi consueverant congregari,
omnes majores natu contra eum conveniebant, et descendente eo
de equo suo, omnes assurgebant ei. Ipse vero, erecta lancea
sua, ab omnibus secundum morem f[oe]dus accipiebat; omnes
enim quot-quot venissent cum lanceis suis ipsius hastam
tangebant, et ita se confirmabant per contactum armorum, pace
palam concessa. W[ae]pnu enim arma sonat; tac, tactus est --
hac de causa totus ille conventus dicitur Wapentac, eo quod
per tactum armorum suorum ad invicem conf[oe]derati sunt.''
--L L. Edward Confessor, 33. D. Wilkins.]
In some northern counties of England, a division, or
district, answering to the hundred in other counties.
Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, and Nottinghamshire are divided into
wapentakes, instead of hundreds. [Written also wapentac.]
--Selden. Blackstone.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
division of certain English counties (equivalent to a hundred in other places), Old English wæpengetæc "division of a riding," from Old Norse vapnatak, from vapna, genitive plural of vapn "weapon" (see weapon) + tak "a touching, a taking hold, a grasping," from taka "to take, grasp," from Proto-Germanic *tak- (see take (v.)). Perhaps it originally was an armed muster with inspection of weapons, or else an assembly where consent was expressed by brandishing swords and spears.
Wiktionary
n. An administrative subdivision in northern English counties, developed under Norse influence, and corresponding to hundreds in the rest of England.
Usage examples of "wapentake".
Troy remembered that it came from the village of Wapentake, which her map showed as lying about a mile and a half from the lock.
She felt a great uplift of spirit and was so preoccupied with her own happiness that she came upon the meeting place of the wapentake, just where the Skipper had said it would be, before she was aware of it.
When everybody was assembled the Hewsons took photographs of the wapentake by itself and with their fellow-travellers sitting self-consciously round it.
Remembering their conversation in the wapentake, she thought she could.
A lark sang, a faint breeze lifted the long grass and in the excavation below the wapentake, sand and gravel fell with a whisper of sound from the grassy overhang.
He and Fox had then walked up to the wapentake where at least they were able to converse above a mutter.
The River on the far side was the wapentake and alone in its hollow like a resident deity sat a figure in a yellow sweater with a black face and hands.
Above Ramsdyke near the hollow called Wapentake Pot, the road from Crossdyke and Tollardwark was undergoing repairs.
She may be anywhere: under the hedge in the Wapentake Pot or a quarter of a mile away.
Four days ago Troy and the other passengers had met there and Troy had sat in the Wapentake Pot and talked with Dr Natouche.
This was the first grassy slope under his feet, now, and ahead of him must be the tufted embankment below the wapentake field.
Thompson went back to the car to fetch their heavy gear and Alleyn and Fox were left together: a tall elegant figure and a large thickset one incongruously moonlit in the wapentake field and scraping like dogs with their forepaws at gravelly rubble.
Hear this: 'All counties, hundreds, wapentakes and trithings shall be at the old rents without any additional payment, except our demesne manors.
All counties, hundred, wapentakes, and trithings (except our demesne manors) shall remain at the old rents, and without any additional payment.