guild-hall
(Stress level or variable.)
Forms: see guild and hall.
The hall in which a guild met. From its use as a meeting-place for the town and corporation often synonymous with ‘town-hall’; spec. (spelt Guildhall), the hall of the Corporation of the City of London, used for municipal meetings, state banquets, etc.
| ? a 1000 in Kemble Cod. Dipl. IV. 277 Orcy hæfð ᵹeᵹyfen þæ ᵹeᵹyld healle..þam ᵹyldscipe to aᵹenne. 1382 in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 292 In the Gyldhal of the citie of Watirforde. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 370 Wel semed ech of hem a fair burgeys To sitten in a yeldehalle on a deys. a 1400 Pistill of Susan 293 Aȝein to þe ȝild-halle [v.rr. geld-, gilde-, gylde-halle] þe gomes vn-greiþ. 1467 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 387 Also, that no maner persone pleye at the pame or at tenys, withyn the yeld halle of the seid cite. 1530 Wriothesley Chron. (1875) I. 16 There dyned in the Guylde hall at the said feast the Lorde Chauncellor. 1556 Chron. Gr. Friars (Camden) 85 Condemnyd at the yelde-halle for hye tresone. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, iii. v. 73 The Maior towards Guild-Hall hyes him in all poste. 1598 Stow Surv. 217 William Hariot Draper Mayor 1481. gave 40. pound to the making of two louers in the said Guildhal. 1629 Maxwell tr. Herodian (1635) 135 All the Citizens, utterly forsaking Iulian, assembled in the Guild-hall [margin συνέδριοι] by command of the Consuls. 1728 Pope Dunc. i. 270 This the Great Mother dearer held than all..her own Guildhall. 1765 Blackstone Comm. I. 473 Their place of meeting is frequently called the Gild-hall. 1797 Encycl. Brit. X. 243/1 The lord-mayor elect..is soon after presented to the lord-chancellor..; and on the 9th of November following is sworn into the office of mayor at Guildhall. 1830 H. Thomas City of London I. 423 At the northern extremity of King Street in Guildhall yard, the north side of which is occupied by the principal front of the Guildhall or common hall of the corporation of London. 1873 L. O. Pike Hist. Crime I. 64 The Guild-hall of the burgesses of Dover. 1965 C. Trent Greater London xvi. 264 The rebuilding of the City is far from complete but the skyline has changed out of all recognition since 1945... The Guildhall has been rebuilt, many new fine blocks of offices have appeared. |