Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A person who held land from a feudal lord and received protection in return for homage and allegiance.
- n. A bondman; a slave.
- n. A subordinate or dependent.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A feudatory tenant; one holding lands by the obligation to render military service or its equivalent to his superior, especially in contradistinction to rear vassal and vavasor; a vassal of the first order—that is, one holding directly from the king. Compare great vassal, below.
- n. A subject; a dependent; a retainer; a servant; one who attends on or does the will of another.
- n. A bondman; a slave.
- n. A low wretch.
- Servile; subservient.
- To subject to vassalage; enslave; treat as a vassal.
- To command; rise over or above; dominate.
Wiktionary
- n. historical The grantee of a fief, feud, or fee; one who keeps land of a superior, and who vows fidelity and homage to him, normally a lord of a manor; a feudatory; a feudal tenant.
- n. A subject; a dependant; a servant; a slave.
- adj. Resembling a vassal; slavish; servile.
- v. transitive To treat as a vassal or to reduce to the position of a vassal; to subject to control; to enslave.
- v. transitive To subordinate to someone or something.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Feud. Law) The grantee of a fief, feud, or fee; one who holds land of a superior, and who vows fidelity and homage to him; a feudatory; a feudal tenant.
- n. A subject; a dependent; a servant; a bondman; a slave.
- adj. Resembling a vassal; slavish; servile.
- v. obsolete To treat as a vassal; to subject to control; to enslave.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a person holding a fief; a person who owes allegiance and service to a feudal lord
Etymologies
- From Middle English, from Old French vassal, from Medieval Latin vassallus ("manservant, domestic, retainer"), from vassus ("servant"), from Gaulish uassos ("young man, squire") (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Old French, from Vulgar Latin *vassallus, from *vassus, of Celtic origin; see upo in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“But five years on, George Bush and Dick Cheney are putting the screws on their Green Zone government to sign a secret deal for indefinite military occupation, which would effectively reduce Iraq to a long-term vassal state. ”
“But it is worth noticing that none of these leaders commanded a very large force, and none is referred to as the vassal or liegeman of another.”
“There is a wonderful program called vassal, found here: www.vassalengine.org”
“Not only did you stand up to Big Oil but you stood up to Big Oil and won for your fellow Alaskans, as a Republican, during a Republican administration whose first family is best characterized as a vassal of the Saud family.”
Paige Donner: Congratulations GOP Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin
“She passed several salutary laws, one forbidding polygamy, another abolishing human sacrifices; her treaties with the Portuguese she faithfully observed, but never would acknowledge their supremacy -- never would allow herself to be called the vassal of any power.”
“His nameless son and successor [212] is described as the vassal of the sultan, whom he served with two hundred lances: that”
History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 6
“Zaichenko said that UNA-UNSO activists were planning to hold the protest due to the fact that such a church service "is very similar to the coronation of a vassal, which is humiliating for Ukrainians.”
“Hassan can, at a handclap, call a vassal at hand and ask that all staff plan a bacchanal - a gala ball that has what pagan charm small galas lack.”
“His nameless son and successor ‡ is described as the vassal of the sultan, whom he served with two hundred lances: that Comnenian prince was no more than duke of Trebizond, and the title of emperor was first assumed by the pride and envy of the grandson of Alexius.”
“Thus, according to The Telegraph, she wants Britain to choose between being a "vassal" of the United States, and embracing a French-led drive for European integration”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘vassal’.
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EN - archaic words
abide, abjure, abroad, adamant, afield, aforetime, aghast, anon, apace, argent, assuage, aught and 328 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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Reading Vocab
ulterior, warrant, syllogism, precious, impiety, maroon, aigrette, batiste, topsy-turvy ago, midnight crush, cantankerous, slovenly and 180 more...
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135 Offensive Shakespearean Terms
135 Offensive Shakespearean Terms =)
artless, baggage, barnacle, bawdy, beef-witted, bladder, boil-brained, bootless, brazen, cankerblossom, churlish, churrish and 123 more...
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Vampire Words
Words that make me think of Vampire: The Requiem
torpor, torpid, amaranth, vitae, embrace, ventrue, toreador, masquerade, dominate, nightmare, majesty, dread and 103 more...
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Notre Dame de Paris
From Notre Dame de Paris by good ole Victor Hugo. (Also called The Hunchback of Notre Dame.)
cuivres, diable, hawthorn, provost, epithalamium, affrighted, mendicants, vagrants, Styx, chimeras, coif, matagrabolise and 196 more...
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(more or less) Temporary Urth List
Temporary list is temporary.
Collecting a few words here, which are then to be alloted to other lists.vassal, gnaw, putrescence, liege, pederasty, disseminate, loot, waning, fitful, hiatuse, plow, pious and 292 more...
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Faves
nepenthe, cupidity, anodyne, obdurate, doleful, obsolescent, quale, piquant, velleity, inchoate, disport, facile and 366 more...
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Vocab
Words that I come across, and go blank, or want to clarify.
nefarious, edifice, malevolent, ostensible, folderol, bauble, livid, amnesty, calculus, saddlery, maisonette, cuisse and 423 more...
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wickedwitch's list
lll
alit, plinth, eclat, diaphanous, portico, nival, daedal, apse, fossa, pellet, avail, midge and 143 more...
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delcj's Words
gavotte, perverse, tchotchkes, schmoop, divisural, triplicostate, albatross, snuggery, virgule, separatrix, solidus, tetrodotoxin and 116 more...
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annscann's list
My words, generally
bavarois, bawbee, bawd, bawdry, libertine, russophobe, rubicund, gossamer, persnickety, claptrap, gesticulate, schadenfreudian and 199 more...
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stpeter's Words
abase, abasement, abashed, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abhorrent, abide, abject, ablation, abnegation and 3536 more...
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dienekes's Words
chutzpah, lexicon, intrepid, pedagogical, schlemiel, schism, erudite, anathema, pugilist, jaunty, paradigm, automaton and 949 more...
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GRE
churlish, polemical, exaltation, docile, esoteric, panache, coercion, restitution, lugubrious, indefatigable, delimit, demarcate and 99 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for vassal.
bilby "Obama couldn’t and wouldn’t criticize Nazi Germany because its brutal program of territorial reconquest, expansion, and confrontation of major rivals closely resembles today’s U.S. rulers’ own agenda. They are hell-bent on retaking the Mid-East and its oil, making U.S. protectorates of former Soviet vassals in Eastern Europe, and militarily besting potential super-powers like China, Russia, India, and the European Union."
- challenge, 'Coin Toss Between Obama, McCain Yields: WAR, WAR, WAR', progressivelabor.890m.com, 6 August 2008. Oct 30, 2008