Meanings
plural ring-hoards
- A large hoard of treasure.
Then the vault was rifled, the ring-hoard robbed, and the wretched man had his request granted.
1999, Seamus Heaney, Beowulf, London: Faber and Faber, page 722 more examples
The slayer also lay, The terrible earth-drake deprived of life, Oppressed by bale: the ring-hoard longer The twisted worm, might not control.
1887, Albert H[arris] Tolman, The Style of Anglo-Saxon Poetry, page 15In Western Scandinavia [...] both hacksilver and ring hoards seem to occur later, and to belong on the whole to the 10th and 11th centuries.
2007, Dagfinn Skre, Means of Exchange: Dealing with Silver in the Viking Age, Oslo: Aarhus University Press, page 207
Origin
- Old Englishbēah hord
- Englishring-hoard
Literary calque of Old English bēah hord, from bēah (“ring”) + hord (“hoard”).
More words from Old English
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
ring-hoard. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ring-hoard
“ring-hoard.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ring-hoard. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ring-hoard,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ring-hoard.
Source: ring-hoard on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.