tyraunt

English

Noun

tyraunt (plural tyraunts)

1. Obsolete form of tyrant.

Middle English

Alternative forms

• tyraunte, tiraunt, tirant, tyrant, tyrante, teraunt, tyran, terant, terraunte, tyrand, tyranne

Etymology

From Old French tirant, tyrant, tiran, from Latin tyrannus, from Ancient Greek τύραννος (túrannos).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtiːrau̯nt/, /ˈtiːrant/, /ˈtirant/, /ˈtirau̯nt/, /-an/

Noun

tyraunt (plural tyrauntis)

1. An absolute monarch; one who rules in despotism.
   • 1297, Robert of Gloucester, Chronicle, published 7689:

     To hom þat wolde is wille do debonere he was & milde & to hom þat wiþsede strong tirant & wilde.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • c. 1340, Richard Rolle, Psalter, XXXII 10:

     Princes, þat is,... tirauntis of þis warld.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • c. 1374, Geoffrey Chaucer translating Boëthius, De Consolatione Philosophiæ, III v 59:

     A tyraunt þat was kyng of sysile.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1382, Wycliffe's Bible, Dan. 1:3:

     The sonys of Yrael, and of the kyngus bloode, and the children of tyrauntis.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. A monarch who is evil, merciless, or unfair.
   • c. 1290, in the South-English Legendary (MS Laud 108), I 128:

     Ore louerd helpe nouþe seint thomas : for oþur frend nath he non, / A-mong so manie tyraunz for-to come: þat weren alle is fon!

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • c. 1330, Robert Mannyng, Chronicle, section 51:

     A bastard no kyngdom suld hald Bot if þat he it wan... Of tirant or of Sarazin.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1377, William Langland, Piers Plowman, I 199:

     Attache þo tyrauntz...And fettereth fast falsenesse...And gurdeth of gyles hed.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • c. 1471, John Fortescue, Works, section 453:

     Whan a Kyng rulith his Realme onely to his own profytt, and not to the good of his Subgetts, he ys a Tyraunte.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

3. A ruler who takes over a nation or usurps.
4. One who suppresses or oppresses the followers of a creed.
5. A scoundrel or malfeasant; one who is merciless, unfair, or evil.

Related terms

• tirannye
• tyraundise
• tyrauntly
• tyrauntrie

Descendants

• English: tyrant
• Scots: tirran, tarran

References

• “tī̆raunt, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-04-21.

Adjective

tyraunt

1. Relating to a tyrant.
2. Tyrannical, harsh.

Descendants

• English: tyrant

References

• “tī̆raunt, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-04-21.