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Chambers (1908)

Merit

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[Fr.,—L. meritum—merēre, -ĭtum, to obtain as a lot, to deserve.]

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Merit, mer′it, n. excellence that deserves honour or reward: worth: value: that which one has earned.—v.t. to earn: to have a right to claim as a reward: to deserve: (pl., in law) the right or wrong of a case, apart from questions of procedure.—adj. Meritō′rious, possessing merit or desert: deserving of reward, honour, or praise.—adv. Meritō′riously.—n. Meritō′riousness.—Order for merit, a Prussian order, the military class founded by Frederick the Great in 1740—the civil class, by Frederick William IV. in 1842 for eminence in science and art; Order of merit, place in a class or list in which the best is placed first, the next best second, and so on. [Fr.,—L. meritum—merēre, -ĭtum, to obtain as a lot, to deserve.]

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Chambers’s Twentieth Century Dictionary of the English Language
Thomas Davidson (editor)
1908

Public-domain-US ↗ · United States

Publisher marks these historical texts public domain in the USA. Transformed book text excludes Gutenberg branding; source attribution is a bibliographic acknowledgment. No non-US public-domain determination is made.

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