Definitions

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

  • noun A fiefdom.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A fee; a feud; an estate held of a superior on condition of military or other service. See feud.
  • noun In French-Canadian law, immovable property held under a feudal tenure, to which is attached a privilege of nobility, subject to fealty and homage and to certain services to the seignior. Also feoff.

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

  • noun (Law) An estate held of a superior on condition of military service; a fee; a feud. See under benefice, n., 2.

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

  • noun An estate held of a superior on condition of military service.
  • noun Something over which one has rights or exercises control.
  • noun metaphor An area of dominion, especially in a corporate or governmental bureaucracy.

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

  • noun a piece of land held under the feudal system

Etymologies

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

[French, from Old French feu, fief; see fee.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French fief, of Germanic origin. Related to fee.

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