Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A tribute or service rendered to a feudal lord on the death of a tenant.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- 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
- n. obsolete the return of military equipment
- n. archaic a payment made to a lord on the death of a tenant
- n. dated a tribute
GNU Webster's 1913
- 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
- Old English heregeatwa. (Wiktionary)
- 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)
Examples
“Roffens.p. 33.] [******* On the death of an alderman, a greater or lesser thane, there was a payment made to the king of his best arms; and this was called his heriot; but this was not of the nature of a relief.”
“GODEFRIDUS-GOTRIC is credited with a third Saxon tribute, a heriot of”
“The mantel is that of Woden when he bears the hero over seas; the cock is a bird of sorcery the world over; the black fowl is the proper gift to the Underground powers -- a heriot really, for did not the Culture god steal all the useful beasts out of the underground world for men's use?”
“It is worth noting that in later times the heriot of an "ordinary thegn" (_medema þegn_) -- by which is meant apparently not a king's thegn but a man of the _twelfhynde_ class -- consisted of his horse with its saddle, &c. and his arms, or two pounds of silver as an equivalent of the whole.”
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 3 "Brescia" to "Bulgaria"
“For instance, when the vassal died, his arms, horse, military equipment reverted as heriot to his master.”
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 6: Fathers of the Church-Gregory XI
“Of their articles he approved of two only, that demanding the right to choose their pastors and that denouncing the heriot or death-duty.”
“The eleventh demands the abolition of the heriot, or inheritance-tax, by which the widow of a rustic was obliged to yield to her lord the best head of cattle or other valuable possession.”
“XI deals with the right of heriot, or the death-tax imposed upon the widow or heir of a tenant.”
Luther Examined and Reexamined A Review of Catholic Criticism and a Plea for Revaluation
“Cardiff: generally they owed no definite service to the Lord (except homage, and sometimes a heriot at death), but on failure of heirs the estate lapsed to the chief Lord.”
Mediæval Wales Chiefly in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries: Six Popular Lectures
“But the fine paid on the inheritance of their land was less definitely restricted in amount, and heriot was more universally and more regularly collected.”
An Introduction to the Industrial and Social History of England
Lists
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phrontistery - h
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hysteresis, hyrax, hyoid, hymnody, hymnal, hylicism, hydric, hyalopterous, hyaloid, hyalography, hyaline, hyacinthine and 568 more...
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250 Further Spelling Words
Another compilation of spelling words suitable for intermediate to advanced spellers.
venturi, aesir, affenpinscher, rottweiler, amanuensis, balletomane, hansard, sangfroid, yukata, capriccio, cuisse, heriot and 237 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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Dr Adv Ujwala D Andrews
love, holy, intimate, lents, arbritary, revenge, difficult, prescribe, scribe, decree, heriot, registration, injunction and 10 more...
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Clearinghouse
For stuff to simply reside.
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ambry, rede, coarctate, anarthrous, artiodactyl, exordium, harmony, army, armoire, arm, armada, armadillo and 349 more...
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End in -ot
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wainscot, ascot, marmot, jot, ocelot, spot, blot, scot, lot, shot, dot, snot and 219 more...
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Marginilia
intertextuality, queer, serendipity, eerie, semiotics, schadenfreude, calliope, logophile, marginalia, reductio ad absurdum, dabble, minutia and 141 more...
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Because I like Them: G --- H
gossypiboma, gymnophoria, ginglyform, goobermensch, gomeril, gump, grinagog, gorbelly, gound, hamesucken, hypobulic, humicubate and 93 more...
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