ˈneifty rare.
Also 7 niefty, 9 naifty.
[a. AF. neifté: see neif and -ty.]
writ of neifty, a writ by which a lord claimed a person as his neif.
| 1641 Termes de la Ley 263 In a writ of Niefty may not be put more Niefes than two onely. 1771 in Howell State Trials (1814) XX. 42 The only writ in the law for the recovery of a villein is..always called the..writ of Neifty. 1865 Nichols Britton I. 195 Free men..convicted as villains by plea under our writ of Naifty. |