† waterdoomn.
historical. Obsolete. rare.
Ordeal by water, as practised in the early medieval period. Contemporary evidence for the term is lacking.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > administration of justice > court proceedings or procedure > trying or hearing of cause > [noun] > trial > trial by ordeal > types of
corsneda1000
water-ordeallOE
waterdoom1580
fire ordeal1612
alfet1678
bier-right1828
1580 J. Stow Chrons. of Eng. 210 A certayne Citizen..Iohn the olde when he coulde not acquite himselfe by the waterdome, offered the King for his life fiue hundred Markes, but the King commaunded that he shoulde be hanged.
1681 Blount's Glossographia (ed. 5) Waterdome, the antient trial by Water.
1838 J. G. Flügel Compl. Dict. Eng. & German Lang. (ed. 2) II. 824/2 Wasserprobe,..water-trial, water-ordeal, water-doom.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2015; most recently modified version published online September 2019).
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n.1580