mease

mease · noun¹

1. Old Norse · derived frommeiss“wooden box, as would be used for counting fish”
2. English todaymease

The English Dialect Dictionary suggests Old Norse meiss (“wooden box, as would be used for counting fish”) as a source; The Century Dictionary suggests that the term comes via Old French from a Latin word *mesa (“barrel”). One can also compare German Mass (“measure”) and indeed measure itself.

mease · noun²

Variant of mess / mese.

mease · noun³

Presumably related to messuage.

mease · noun, verb⁴

From mesh?

Mease · proper noun⁵

A patronymic from May or a variant of Meece.