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fealty - 4 dictionary results
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fe⋅al⋅ty

  [fee-uhl-tee]
Use fealty in a Sentence
–noun, plural -ties.
1. History/Historical.
a. fidelity to a lord.
b. the obligation or the engagement to be faithful to a lord, usually sworn to by a vassal.
2. fidelity; faithfulness.
Origin:
1275–1325; ME feute, feaute, fealtye < AF, OF feauté, fealté < L fidēlitāt- (s. of fidēlitās) fidelity; internal -au-, -al- from feal, reshaping (by substitution of -al- -al 1 ) of fe(d)eil < L fidēlis

Synonyms:
2. loyalty, devotion.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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fe·al·ty   (fē'əl-tē)   
n.   pl. fe·al·ties
    1. The fidelity owed by a vassal to his feudal lord.
    2. The oath of such fidelity.
  2. Faithfulness; allegiance. See Synonyms at fidelity.

[Middle English fealtye, from Old French fealte, from Latin fidēlitās, faithfulness, from fidēlis, faithful, from fidēs, faith; see bheidh- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Fealty

Fe"al*ty\, n. [OE. faute, OF. faut['e], fealt['e], feel['e], feelteit, fr. L. fidelitas, fr. fidelis faithful. See Feal, and cf. Fidelity.]

1. Fidelity to one's lord; the feudal obligation by which the tenant or vassal was bound to be faithful to his lord; the special oath by which this obligation was assumed; fidelity to a superior power, or to a government; loyality. It is no longer the practice to exact the performance of fealty, as a feudal obligation. --Wharton (Law Dict. ). Tomlins.

2. Fidelity; constancy; faithfulness, as of a friend to a friend, or of a wife to her husband.

He should maintain fealty to God. --I. Taylor.

Makes wicked lightnings of her eyes, and saps The fealty of our friends. --tennyson.

Swore fealty to the new government. --Macaulay.

Note: Fealty is distinguished from homage, which is an acknowledgment of tenure, while fealty implies an oath. See Homage. --Wharton.

Syn: Homage; loyality; fidelity; constancy.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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fealty 
c.1300, from O.Fr. feauté, from L. fidelitatem (nom. fidelitas) "fidelity," from fidelis "loyal, faithful" (see fidelity).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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