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  1. heriot love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A tribute or service rendered to a feudal lord on the death of a tenant.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. In English law, a feudal service, tribute, or fine, as the best beast or other chattel, payable to the lord of the fee on the decease of the owner, landholder, or vassal. Originally the heriot consisted of military furniture, or of horses aud arms, which went to equip the vassal's successor. Heriots from freeholders are now rare, but heriots from copyholders are not so. The distinction between heriot and relief is that the former implies the immediate succession of the heir, who pays the heriot in recognition of his having succeeded, and the latter is paid in recognition of the fact that the lord has recovered his ownership, but has consented to make, as it were, a new concession to the heir. Compare farleu.

Wiktionary

  1. n. obsolete the return of military equipment
  2. n. archaic a payment made to a lord on the death of a tenant
  3. n. dated a tribute

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. (Eng. Law) Formerly, a payment or tribute of arms or military accouterments, or the best beast, or chattel, due to the lord on the death of a tenant; in modern use, a customary tribute of goods or chattels to the lord of the fee, paid on the decease of a tenant.

Etymologies

  1. Old English heregeatwa. (Wiktionary)
  2. Middle English, from Old English heregeatu : here, army; see koro- in Indo-European roots + geatwe, equipment, arms. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

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‘heriot’ has been looked up 2380 times, loved by 1 person, added to 11 lists, and has a Scrabble score of 9.