▪ I. leud Hist.
(l(j)uːd)
Also in Latin pl. form leudes (ˈl(j)uːdiːz).
[repr. med.L. leudēs, a. OHG. liudi, liuti: see lede.]
In the Frankish kingdoms: A vassal or feudatory.
| c 1756–67 Burke Eng. Hist. Wks. X. 338 This chief [of the ancient Germans] was styled Senior, Lord [etc.]..the followers were called Ambacti, Comites, Leuds, Vassals [etc.]. 1845 M. Pattison Ess. i. (1889) 17 The king, attended by some of his leudes, armed only with their swords, entered. 1863 J. White Eighteen Chr. Cent. vii. 137 The Leud, as he was called—or feudatory, as he would have been named at a later time. 1872 Robertson Hist. Ess., Introd. p. xxxv, They had exchanged the position of Leudes..for that of Antrustions. |
▪ II. leud, leude
obs. forms of lede, lewd.