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fees - 2 dictionary results

fee

  [fee] noun, verb, feed, fee⋅ing.
Use fees in a Sentence
–noun
1. a charge or payment for professional services: a doctor's fee.
2. a sum paid or charged for a privilege: an admission fee.
3. a charge allowed by law for the service of a public officer.
4. Law.
a. an estate of inheritance in land, either absolute and without limitation to any particular class of heirs(fee simple) or limited to a particular class of heirs (fee tail).
b. an inheritable estate in land held of a feudal lord on condition of the performing of certain services.
c. a territory held in fee.
5. a gratuity; tip.
–verb (used with object)
6. to give a fee to.
7. Chiefly Scot. to hire; employ.
Origin:
1250–1300; ME < AF; OF fie, var. of fief fief. See feudal

Related forms:
feeless, adjective

Synonyms:
1. stipend, salary, emolument; honorarium.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To fees
fee   (fē)   
n.  
  1. A fixed sum charged, as by an institution or by law, for a privilege: a license fee; tuition fees.
  2. A charge for professional services: a surgeon's fee.
  3. A tip; a gratuity.
  4. Law An inherited or heritable estate in land.
    1. In feudal law, an estate in land granted by a lord to his vassal on condition of homage and service. Also called feud2, fief.
    2. The land so held.
tr.v.   feed, fee·ing, fees
  1. To give a tip to.
  2. Scots To hire.

[Middle English fe, from Old English feoh, cattle, goods, money, and from Anglo-Norman fee, fief (from Old French fie, fief, of Germanic origin; akin to Old English feoh); see peku- in Indo-European roots.]
Word History: It is possible to see the idea of money taking hold of the human mind by studying a few words that express the notion of wealth or goods. The word fee now denotes money paid or received for a service rendered. Fee comes from Old English feoh, which has three meanings, all equally ancient: "cattle, livestock"; "goods, possessions, movable property"; "money." The Germanic form behind the Old English is *fehu, which derives by Grimm's Law from Indo-European *peku-, "cattle." *Fehu is therefore a cognate of Latin pecu, "cattle," also a direct descendant of Indo-European *peku-. Latin pecu has several derivatives that ultimately were borrowed into English. One was pecūnia, "money," the source of our word pecuniary. Another was pecūliāris, "pertaining to one's pecūlium or property," the source of our word peculiar. Finally, our word peculator comes from yet a third derivative, pecūlātor, "embezzler of public money, peculator."
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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