Forms: 3 liue, 6 leu, 6–7 lue, 7 le(i)w, 7–8 liew(e, 6– lieu. [a. F. lieu:—L. locum, acc. of locus place.] Place, ‘stead.’
1. In phrases. a. In (the) lieu of: in the place, room or stead of (cf. INSTEAD 1); in exchange or return for, as a payment, penalty or reward for.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., I. 237/620. And nouþe In liue of Aungele ane man ich i-seo.
1534. Acts 26 Hen. VIII., c. 15 § 2. Any other demaunde or duetie, in the name or lue of the same.
1548. Udall, Erasm. Par. Luke Pref. 11 b. In the lieu and place of Goddes innumerable, all their song … is now of Jesus Christe alone.
1589. Nashe, Anat. Absurd., 24. In lieu of their crueltie, they were plagued with this calamitie.
1620. Sir R. Boyle, in Lismore Papers (1886), I. 239. I … am to paie him 3 tonnes of yron in lew of 40li.
1640. S. D. Ewes, in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden), 166. Two subsidies granted in leiw of it.
1675. N. Riding Rec., VI. 237. Ordd. That £7 be paid unto the said Jane Watson in lue of her money and cloathes.
1680. Cotton, Gamester, 82. He takes in those four Cards and lays out four others in their lieu.
1719. Young, Busiris, I. i. I receive thee from the gods, in lieu Of all that happiness they ravish’d from me.
1793. Smeaton, Edystone L., § 101. A durable stone building in lieu of a perishable wooden one.
1866. Crump, Banking, ix. 195. The amount to be paid in lieu of stamp duty.
1891. Law Times, XCII. 80/1. The plaintiff sued the defendant for a quarter’s rent in lieu of notice.
b. In lieu: used absol. = INSTEAD 2. arch.
1599. in Fowler, Hist. C. C. C. (O. H. S.), 351. We thought that in Leu to recompense hereof … we might lawfully take part of the fine for ourselves.
a. 1650. May, Old Couple, I. (1658), 2. Keep out the Sun, and do bestow in lieu A greater benefit, a safe concealment.
1768–74. Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1834), II. 432. God will not give us the thing we desire, but a better in lieu.
1869. Browning, Ring & Bk., IX. 1195. Quit the gay range o’ the world Enter in lieu the penitential pound.
2. Used without preceding prep. for: † a. ? Something given ‘in lieu’ of another thing (Obs. rare–1). b. Stead, room (rare).
1592. Bp. Andrewes, Wonderful Combat, vi. (1627), 95. One would thinke it a very large offer to giue so great a lieu for so small a seruice.
1832. Austin, Jurispr. (1879), II. xlvi. 807. A fungible or representable thing is a thing whose place, lieu, or room, may be supplied by a thing of the same kind.
