Emily Dickinson Lexicon

WER'E-GILD, n. [Sax. wer, man, and the estimated value of a man, and gild, geld, money.]

Formerly, the price of a man's head; compensation paid for a man killed, partly to the king for the loss of a subject, and partly to the lord of the vassal, and partly to the next of kin. It was paid by the murderer. – Blackstone.