▪ I. fief, n.
(fiːf)
Forms: 7 feif, 7–9 feof(f, 7– fief.
[First in 17th c.; a. F. fief: see fee n.2]
1. = fee n.2 1. male fief, fief masculine: one that could be held by males only.
| 1611 Cotgr., Fief, a Fief; a (Knights) fee; a Mannor, or inheritance held by homage. a 1613 Overbury Observ. France Wks. (1856) 238 They pawned all their Feifs to the church. 1671 F. Phillips Reg. Necess. 419 An Estate in Tayl or Fief Masculine. 1756 Nugent Gr. Tour II. 27 'Tis he only that can give away the great fiefs of the empire. 1820 Scott Monast. iv, A male fief. 1838 Arnold Hist. Rome (1846) I. xiv. 267 Proprietors who received their land as an hereditary fief. 1868 Milman St. Paul's 43 The cession of the kingdom as a fief of the Holy See. |
transf. and fig.
| 1686 Dryden Ode to Mrs. Killigrew 98 To the next Realm she stretcht her Sway..And the whole Fief, in right of Poetry, she claim'd. 18.. W. Sawyer New Year Numbers xii, Not of thy strength nor cunning didst thou come, Into the fief and heritage of life. 1873 Symonds Grk. Poets i. 27 The cities of Greece became the fiefs of foreign despots. |
b. in fief = in fee: see fee n.2 1 b.
| 1728 Morgan Algiers II. v. 313 The knights hold the said Islands in Feof from the king of Sicily. 1821 Byron Mar. Fal. v. i, In fief perpetual to myself and heirs. 1871 B. Taylor Faust (1875) II. Pref. 10 Faust receives the sea⁓shore in feoff for ever. |
2. Comb., as fief-holder, one who holds a fief from a superior.
| 1864 Kirk Chas. Bold II. iv. iii. 419 The fief holders of France..were still more assiduous in the cultivation of martial exercises. 1882–3 Schaff Encycl. Relig. Knowl. I. 484 The power of the feudal lords or fief-holders increased. |
▪ II. † fief, v. Obs.
[f. prec. n. Cf. feoff v.]
trans. To grant as a fief. Also to fief out.
| 1792 A. Young Trav. France 327 The seigneurs, who possess the same rights, sell and fief them at a still cheaper rate. Ibid. 394 Seigneurs, who will not sell, but only fief out these wastes. |