endware

noun /ˈɛndˌwæːr/

1. A hamlet or township; a small settlement or locality.

   rare

   To the poor people 6s. 8d. to be paid to the churchwardens to distribute to 40 of the poorest householders at their discretion, only 'this endware to be none of them' [sic].

Where it comes from

Inherited from Middle English *endeware, from Old English *endeware (literally “village people”), from ende (“end, extremity”) + -ware (“inhabitants”), metonymically extended from the inhabitants of a settlement to the settlement itself. Compare endship for a similar formation.

Adapted from the Wiktionary entry endware (CC BY-SA 4.0).

← enduraendwork →

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