Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Inferior; lowest: in feudal law, applied to the lowest tenant holding under a mean or mediate lord, as distinguished from a tenant in capite, who holds immediately of the sovereign.

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

  • adjective (Eng. Law) At the bottom; lowest.

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

  • adjective At the bottom; lowest

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Old French par aval below; par through (Latin per) + aval down; a- (Latin ad) + val (Latin vallis) a valley. Compare paramount.

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Examples

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  • Inferior; lowest; of least account. (from Phrontistery)

    May 24, 2008