guild a medieval association of craftsmen or merchants, often having considerable power.

Guilds are first mentioned in Old English pre-Conquest documents, but they had a strong religious focus, with their objects including the provision of masses for the souls of deceased members, and the payment of wergild in cases of justifiable homicide. Merchant guilds, incorporated societies of the merchants of a town or city, having exclusive rights of trading within the town, are not found in pre-Conquest England, although they were known on the Continent, and were later introduced to England (in many English towns, and in the royal burghs of Scotland, the merchant guild became the governing body of the town).

The trade guilds, which in England came to prominence in the 14th century, were associations of persons exercising the same craft, formed for the purpose of protecting and promoting their common interests. They are historically represented in London by the Livery Companies, although these are not ordinarily known as guilds.

guild / gild/ (also gild) • n. a medieval association of craftsmen or merchants, often having considerable power. ∎  an association of people for mutual aid or the pursuit of a common goal. ∎  Ecol. a group of species that have similar requirements and play a similar role within a community.

guild, gild2 confraternity for mutual aid. XIV. The present form is prob. — MLG., MDu. gilde (Du. gild) :- *ʒelðjōn, rel. to OE. ġi(e)ld payment, offering, sacrifice, idol, (also) guild, OS. geld payment, sacrifice, reward, OHG. gelt payment, tribute (Du., G. geld money), ON. gjald payment. Goth. gild tribute :- Gmc. *ʒelðam. The base *ʒelð- is prob. to be taken in the sense ‘pay, offer’ (cf. YIELD), so that the sb. would primarily mean an association of persons contributing to a common object.

Guild

an association of men or women belonging to the same class or engaged in the same industry, profession, interested in the same leisure, literary, or other pursuit, etc. See also association, fraternity. Used also in such forms as Townwomen’s Guild, Guild of Woodworkers, etc.

Examples: guild of the learned, 1817; of Sibyls, 1871.

guild Association of craftsmen or merchants in medieval Europe. Merchant guilds probably developed from earlier religious associations and sometimes became more or less synonymous with municipal government. Guilds controlled economic conditions in the interest of their members, but were eclipsed by the development of capitalism.