well met
English
Etymology
A shortening of It is well that we have met.
Interjection
well met
- (archaic, paganism) A greeting.
- c. 1599, William Shakespeare, Henry V, Act II, Scene I:
- Bardolph: Well met, Corporal Nim.
- 1833, Unknown translator, “The Death Song of Regner Lodbrog”, in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, volume 33, page 915:
- " Well met ! Well met ! Thou'lt soon be set
Before the ale-cup flowing."
- 2011, James A Owen, The Dragon's Apprentice, →ISBN, page 120:
- "Ho, Fios," Verne said as he raised a hand in greeting.
"Well met, Master Verne," the smallest of the dogs replied.
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Adjective
well met (not comparable)
- (archaic) Welcome, greeted.
- c. 1599, William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act I, Scene IX:
- Clown: Here comes Sir Oliver: Sir Oliver Mar-text, you are well met.
- 1902, Emerson Hough, The Mississippi Bubble, →ISBN, page 280-281:
- Mother of God! but we are well met here, in this wilderness, among the savages.
- 2009, Kage Baker, (Please provide the book title or journal name), →ISBN, page 109:
- "Lord Vergoin, you are well met. I trust my poor table will not too gravely disappoint you."
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- Greeted by a person of high respect or social status.
- Lady Merlumina?! You were well met. She is an ancestor of mine.
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see well, met.