guild

• (obsolete) gild

From Middle English gilde, from Old Norse gildi (“payment, guild”). Related to geld, yield, yauld.

• IPA^(key): /ɡɪld/
• Rhymes: -ɪld
• Homophones: gild, gilled

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

guild (plural guilds)

1. A group or association mainly of tradespeople made up of merchants, craftspeople, or artisans, particularly in the Middle Ages, established to oversee and protect their specific commercial interests and to provide mutual aid.
   • 2003, “Guild of Mute Assassins”, performed by Clutch:

     The swinging of its censers, the silence of its members / Oh, the Guild of Mute Assassins

2. A corporation.
3. (ecology) A group of diverse species that share common characteristics or habits.
4. (video games) An organized group of players who regularly play together in a multiplayer game.

• (medieval professional associations): Hanse (merchants)
• (modern professional associations): trade union, union, professional association

• (meeting place): guild hall, guildhall, guildsman, guildswoman, common house, common hall

• The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, 2000, Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009
• Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, HarperCollins Publishers, 2003