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vassal

 - 3 dictionary results

vas⋅sal

  [vas-uhl]
Use vassal in a Sentence
–noun
1. (in the feudal system) a person granted the use of land, in return for rendering homage, fealty, and usually military service or its equivalent to a lord or other superior; feudal tenant.
2. a person holding some similar relation to a superior; a subject, subordinate, follower, or retainer.
3. a servant or slave.
–adjective
4. of, pertaining to, or characteristic of a vassal.
5. having the status or position of a vassal.
Origin:
1300–50; ME < MF < ML vassallus, equiv. to vass(us) servant (< Celtic; cf. Welsh gwas young man, Ir foss servant) + -allus n. suffix

Related forms:
vas⋅sal⋅less, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To vassal
vas·sal   (vās'əl)   
n.  

  1. A person who held land from a feudal lord and received protection in return for homage and allegiance.

  2. A bondman; a slave.

  3. A subordinate or dependent.


[Middle English, from Old French, from Vulgar Latin *vassallus, from *vassus, of Celtic origin; see upo 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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Encyclopedia

vassal

in feudal society, one invested with a fief in return for services to an overlord. Some vassals did not have fiefs and lived at their lord's court as his household knights. Certain vassals who held their fiefs directly from the crown were tenants in chief and formed the most important feudal group, the barons. A fief held by tenants of these tenants in chief was called an arriere-fief, and, when the king summoned the whole feudal host, he was said to summon the ban et arriere-ban. There were female vassals as well; their husbands fulfilled their wives' services.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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