ˈtheowdom, ˈthewdom Obs. exc. Hist.
Also 4 þedome, 5 theudome, 7, 9 theodom.
[OE. þéowdom, f. þéow, theow n. + -dom.]
The condition of a ‘theow’ or slave; slavery, bondage, thraldom. (In OE. also in sense ‘service’, without connotation of servility.)
| c 893 K. ælfred Oros. i. x. §6 Þæt men hie mehten aliesan mid feo of þeowdome. a 950 Rituale Dunelm. (Surtees) 6 In nedhernisse vel in ðeadome ic beᵹo. c 1000 ælfric Hom. II. 524 Eᵹe is twyfeald, and ðeowdom is twyfeald. c 1122 O.E. Chron. an. 675 (Laud MS.), Hi hit heafden ᵹefreod..of ealle þewdom. Ibid. an. 963, Hi hit freodon..wið ealle weoruld þeudom. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 99 Men weren alesde from deofles ðeowdome. c 1200 Ormin 3611, I þeowwdom unnderr laferrd. Ibid. 14779 Ut off þewwdomess bandess. c 1205 Lay. 454 Dardanisc kun..woneð in þisse londe..inne þeowe-dome [c 1275 þeudome]. a 1225 Ancr. R. 32 Summe ine prisune, summe ine alse muchele ðeudome alse oxe is oþer asse. c 1320 Cast. Love 247 Whon he him serwede in þewdome [v.rr. thewdome, þedome]. c 1425 Eng. Conq. Irel. 138 Nether al to be vndone, ne fully I-broght yn-to theudome. [1658 Phillips, Theodom (Sax.), servitude. 1833 Galt in Fraser's Mag. VIII. 497 Too fond of literature to relish the distasteful theodom of a tutor.] |