Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A fiefdom.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A fee; a feud; an estate held of a superior on condition of military or other service. See
feud . - noun In French-Canadian law, immovable property held under a feudal tenure, to which is attached a privilege of nobility, subject to fealty and homage and to certain services to the seignior. Also
feoff .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Law) An estate held of a superior on condition of military service; a fee; a feud. See under
benefice , n., 2.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun An
estate held of a superior on condition of military service. - noun Something over which one has rights or exercises control.
- noun metaphor An area of
dominion , especially in a corporate or governmental bureaucracy.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a piece of land held under the feudal system
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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In fact, fief is the root word for fee and thats what you find on a speeding ticket: theres a fee for the courts, a fee for the admin personnel, a fee for processing and lastly, a fee for going over the 1973 oil-crisis fabricated 55mph speed limit. luvmycop
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But we must bear in mind that he still held his possessions in France as a fief from the French king, whose vassal he was.
General History for Colleges and High Schools Philip Van Ness Myers
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He agreed to make the decision on condition that the one whom he selected should hold Scotland as a fief from the English king.
An Introduction to the History of Western Europe James Harvey Robinson 1899
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The Genoese, who, after the recovery of Constantinople, were seated in the suburb of Pera or Galata, received that honorable fief from the bounty of the emperor.
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire 1206
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The model of government was taken from that of a military subordination, and a fief was the temporary pay of an officer proportioned to his rank.
An Essay on the History of Civil Society, Eighth Edition Adam Ferguson 1769
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This practice was also founded on the notion that a fief was a benefice, and that, while the heir could not perform his military services, the revenue devolved to the superior, who employed another in his stead.
The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.I., Part A. From the Britons of Early Times to King John David Hume 1743
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He worked with Mr Putin at first, but all attempts to break up his Moscow fief, which is fortified by its own courts, police and media, have invariably failed.
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Ersöz also told Suayip Tanış that Şırnak was his 'fief' and that he did not want HADEP there.
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The Feudal System: 3. vassalage: warriors (knights) swearing an oath to their lord land itself was called the "fief":
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The Feudal System: 3. vassalage: warriors (knights) swearing an oath to their lord land itself was called the "fief":
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