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yeomanry

 - 3 dictionary results

yeo⋅man⋅ry

  [yoh-muhn-ree]
Use yeomanry in a Sentence
–noun
1. yeomen collectively.
2. a British volunteer cavalry force, formed in 1761, originally composed largely of yeomen, that became part of the British Territorial Army in 1907.
Origin:
1325–75; ME yemanry; see yeoman, -ry
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To yeomanry
yeo·man·ry   (yō'mən-rē)   
n.   pl. yeo·man·ries

  1. The class of yeomen; small freeholding farmers.

  2. A British volunteer cavalry force organized in 1761 to serve as a home guard and later incorporated into the Territorial Army.

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

yeomanry

in English history, a class intermediate between the gentry and the labourers; a yeoman was usually a landholder but could also be a retainer, guard, attendant, or subordinate official. The word appears in Middle English as yemen, or yoman, and is perhaps a contraction of yeng man or yong man, meaning young man, or attendant. Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (late 14th century) depicts a yeoman who is a forester and a retainer. Most yeomen of the later Middle Ages were probably occupied in cultivating the land; Raphael Holinshed, in his Chronicles (1577), described them as having free land worth 6 (originally 40 shillings) annually and as not being entitled to bear arms

Learn more about yeomanry with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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