muniment

plural muniments · alternative miniment

1. lawA deed, or other official document kept as proof of ownership or rights or privileges; an archived document.First known use 15th c.

   hauing the said deedes, euidences, muniments, terriers, and writinges in their hands[…]

   1594, William West, Symboleography […]

   1 more example

   Then, on the order of King Darius, a search was made in Babylonia in the muniment rooms where the archives were kept […]

   1966, Jerusalem Bible, Ezra 6:1, London: Darton, Longman & Todd

2. in pluralobsoleteThings which a person or place is equipped with; effects, furnishings, accoutrements.First known use 15th–19th c.

   Vpon a day as ſhe him ſate beſide, / By chance he certaine miniments forth drew, / Which yet with him as relickes did abide / Of all the bounty which Belphebe threw / On him, whilſt goodly grace ſhe did him ſhew: […]

   1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Qveene: Disposed into Twelue Books, Fashioning XII. Morall Vertues, London: Printed [by Richard Field] for VVilliam Ponsonbie, →OCLC, book IV, canto VIII, stanza VI

3. obsoleteSomething used as a defence.First known use 16th–19th c.

   other muniments and petty helps

   c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]