Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The fidelity owed by a vassal to his feudal lord.
  • noun The oath of such fidelity.
  • noun Allegiance. synonym: fidelity.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Fidelity. to a lord; faithful adherence of a tenant or vassal to the superior of whom he holds his lands; the solemn recognition by the tenant, under oath, of his lord's paramount right.
  • noun Fidelity in general, as of one friend to another, of a wife to a husband, etc.; faithfulness; faith; loyalty.
  • noun Synonyms Allegiance. Loyalty, Fealty. See allegiance.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Fidelity to one's lord; the feudal obligation by which the tenant or vassal was bound to be faithful to his lord; the special oath by which this obligation was assumed; fidelity to a superior power, or to a government; loyality. It is no longer the practice to exact the performance of fealty, as a feudal obligation.
  • noun Fidelity; constancy; faithfulness, as of a friend to a friend, or of a wife to her husband.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Fidelity to one's lord; the feudal obligation by which the tenant or vassal was bound to be faithful to his lord; fidelity; allegiance; faithfulness.
  • noun The oath by which this obligation was assumed.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the loyalty that citizens owe to their country (or subjects to their sovereign)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English fealtye, from Old French fealte, from Latin fidēlitās, faithfulness, from fidēlis, faithful, from fidēs, faith; see bheidh- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Anglo-Norman fealté, from Latin fidēlitās ("faithfulness")

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Examples

Comments

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  • Man disobeying,

    Disloyal breaks his fealtie, and sinns

    Against the high Supremacie of Heav'n ...

    Milton, Paradise Lost III

    December 18, 2006

  • Pippin swore this to Denethor when he became a knight of Gondor.

    June 9, 2012