A Topical Dictionary: Search for liege

Dictionary Results For "liege" [?]/[OPML]

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GNU Project's publication of CIDE, the Collaborative International Dictionary of English Liege \Liege\ (l[=e]j), a. [OE. lige, lege, F. lige, LL. ligius,
legius, liege, unlimited, complete, prob. of German origin;
cf. G. ledig free from bonds and obstacles, MHG. ledec,
ledic, lidic, freed, loosed, and Charta Ottonis de Benthem,
ann. 1253, "ligius homo quod Teutonic[`e] dicitur ledigman,"
i. e., uni soli homagio obligatus, free from all obligations
to others; influenced by L. ligare to bind. G. ledig perh.
orig. meant, free to go where one pleases, and is perh. akin
to E. lead to conduct. Cf. Lead to guide.]
1. Sovereign; independent; having authority or right to
allegiance; as, a liege lord. --Chaucer.
[1913 Webster]

She looked as grand as doomsday and as grave;
And he, he reverenced his liege lady there.
--Tennyson.
[1913 Webster]

2. serving an independent sovereign or master; bound by a
feudal tenure; obliged to be faithful and loyal to a
superior, as a vassal to his lord; faithful; loyal; as, a
liege man; a liege subject.
[1913 Webster]

3. (Old Law) Full; perfect; complete; pure. --Burrill.
[1913 Webster]

Liege homage (Feudal Custom), that homage of one sovereign
or prince to another which acknowledged an obligation of
fealty and services.

Liege poustie [L. legitima potestas] (Scots Law), perfect,
i. e., legal, power; specif., having health requisite to
do legal acts.

Liege widowhood, perfect, i. e., pure, widowhood. [Obs.]
[1913 Webster]

GNU Project's publication of CIDE, the Collaborative International Dictionary of English Liege \Liege\ (l[=e]j), n.
1. A free and independent person; specif., a lord paramount;
a sovereign. --Mrs. Browning.
[1913 Webster]

The anointed sovereign of sighs and groans,
Liege of all loiterers and malcontents. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]

2. The subject of a sovereign or lord; a liegeman.
[1913 Webster]

A liege lord seems to have been a lord of a free
band; and his lieges, though serving under him, were
privileged men, free from all other obligations,
their name being due to their freedom, not to their
service. --Skeat.
[1913 Webster]

WordNet Liege
adj : owing or owed feudal allegiance and service; "one's liege
lord"; "a liege subject"
n 1: a person holding a fief [syn: vassal, liegeman, {liege
subject}, feudatory]
2: city in eastern Belgium; largest French-speaking city in
Belgium [syn: Luik]

Moby Dictionary
ardent , bondmaid , bondman , bondslave , bondsman , bondswoman , boss ,
bwana , captive , chattel , chattel slave , chef , chief ,
church dignitary , churl , client , concubine , constant , creature ,
debt slave , dependent , ecclesiarch , elder , employer , feudal ,
feudatory , flunky , follower , galley slave , goodman , guru ,
hanger-on , helot , homager , husband , inferior , lackey , liege lord ,
liege man , liege subject , lord , lord paramount , loyal , master ,
minion , myrmidon , odalisque , overlord , padrone , paramount ,
paterfamilias , patriarch , patron , peon , rabbi , resolute , retainer ,
sahib , seigneur , seignior , serf , servant , servile , slave , starets ,
staunch , steadfast , stooge , subject , subordinate , subservient ,
teacher , theow , thrall , tributary , true , underling , understrapper ,
vassal , villein , yeoman

LIEGE, from the Latin, ligare, to bind. The bond subsisting between the subject and chief, or lord and vassal, binding the one to protection and just government, the other to tribute and due subjection. The prince or chief is called liege lord; the subjects liege men. The word is now applied as if the liegance or bond were only to attach the people to the prince. Stat. 8 Hen. VI. c. 10; 14 Hen. VIII. c. 2; 1 Bl. Com. 367.