Meaning & use
meadhall
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Meaning
nouncountableliteraryold-fashioned
A large hall in early medieval times where people gathered to eat, drink mead, and listen to stories or poems.
Grammar: Countable: say 'a meadhall' or 'meadhalls'. It is often spelled with a hyphen or as two words.
Patterns
- in the meadhall
- a great meadhall
The hero returned to the meadhall to tell of his adventures.
Inside the meadhall, warriors drank and sang late into the night.
The meadhall was the heart of the community in old Norse tales.
Word forms
| plural | meadhalls |
|---|
Common combinations
- great meadhall
- The great meadhall stood at the center of the village.
- meadhall door
- He knocked on the heavy meadhall door.
- meadhall poem
- Beowulf is a famous meadhall poem.
Synonyms and how they differ
- banquet hall
- A modern term for a large room used for formal meals; it lacks the historical and literary associations.
- feasting hall
- A descriptive phrase focusing on the activity of feasting.
Commonly confused: meadhall or mead?
meadhall vs mead
Mead is the alcoholic drink made from honey; a meadhall is the building where it was served.
Practice
In the fantasy novel, the heroes celebrated in a vast ______ after the battle.
Choose one answer.
A meadhall is a building for feasting, so it fits the context. 'Mead' is the drink, 'meadow' is a field, and 'medal' is an award.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “meadhall”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.