English

Noun

demesne ‎(plural demesnes)

1. A lord’s chief manor place, with that part of the lands belonging thereto which has not been granted out in tenancy; a house, and the land adjoining, kept for the proprietor’s own use.
   • 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter III:

     I could spot no friendly native to tell me where I might find Bobbie. I proceeded, therefore, to roam hither and thither about the grounds and messuages in the hope of locating her, wishing that I had a couple of bloodhounds to aid me in my task, for the Travers demesne is a spacious one and there was a considerable amount of sunshine above, though none, I need scarcely mention, in my heart.

   • 1962, Vladimir Nabokov, Pale Fire, Commentary, note to lines 993-995:

     One minute before his death, as we were crossing from his demesne to mine and had begun working up between the junipers and ornamental shrubs, a Red Admirable (see note to line 270) came dizzily whirling around us like a colored flame.

2. A region or area; a domain.
   • 1816, John Keats, On First Looking into Chapman's Homer, lines 5-6

     Oft of one wide expanse had I been told
     That deep-brow'd Homer ruled as his demesne;

Translations

References

• demesne in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

Old French

Adjective

demesne m ‎(oblique and nominative feminine singular demesne)

1. Alternative form of demaine

Noun

demesne m ‎(oblique plural demesnes, nominative singular demesnes, nominative plural demesne)

1. Alternative form of demaine