Liege

Definition of Liege

Pronunciation: lēj

a.

1.

Sovereign; independent; having authority or right to allegiance; as, a liege lord.

She looked as grand as doomsday and as grave;
And he, he reverenced his liege lady there.

- Tennyson.

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.

3.

(Old Law) Full; perfect; complete; pure.

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

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

Liege widowhood
perfect, i. e., pure, widowhood.

n.

1.

A free and independent person; specif., a lord paramount; a sovereign.

The anointed sovereign of sighs and groans,
Liege of all loiterers and malcontents.

- Shak.

2.

The subject of a sovereign or lord; a liegeman.

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.

Related Words

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

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