† ˈparage Obs.
Also 4 perage.
[a. F. parage (11th c. in Hatz.-Darm.) = Pr. paratge, Sp. parage, It. paraggio, med.L. parāticum, ? f. par equal: see -age. The original sense in med.L. and Fr. was app. ‘parity of condition or rank’; hence, ‘noble lineage or extraction’: the latter is the sense with which the word entered Eng.]
1. Lineage, descent, rank; esp. noble or high lineage.
| a 1300 Floriz & Bl. 256 Þer buþ seriauns in þe stage Þat serueþ þe maidenes of parage. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 167 Aproch þou to þat prynce of parage noble. c 1386 Chaucer Wife's Prol. 250 If she be riche and of heigh parage. 1484 Caxton Chivalry 46 Parage is none thynge but honour auncyently acustomed. 1528 Roy Rede me (Arb.) 61 They..fare moche better at their table Then lordes of worthy parage. a 1553 Udall Royster D. i. ii. (Arb.) 17 His face is for ladies of high and noble parages, With whome he hardly scapeth great mariages. 1652 Needham tr. Selden's Mare Cl. 281 So did the Kings of Wales of high parage. |
2. Worth, value. rare.
| 1513 Douglas æneis iii. v. 222 Syne to my fader,..Riche rewardis he gaif of hie parage. |
3. Equality of birth or station, as in members of the same family.
| 1513 Douglas æneis iv. Prol. 44 Thow makis febill wycht, and lawest the hie; Thow knittis frendschip quhar thar bene na parage. a 1670 Hacket Abp. Williams ii. (1692) 115 He [Laud] thought it a disparagement to have a parage with any of his rank. |
‖ 4. Feudal Law. (As Fr., paraʒ.) See quots.
| [1611 Cotgr. s.v., Tenir en parage, to hold part of a fief, as a coheire, or coparcener; or, younger brothers to hold of their elder by homage, and fealtie; which is therefore due vnto him, after partition, because he does homage vnto the Lord Paramount both for their parts, and his owne.] 1727–41 Chambers Cycl. s.v., When a fief is divided among brothers;..the younger hold their part of the elder by Parage, i.e. without any homage or service... This Parage being an equality of duty, or service among brothers or sisters. [1875 Maine Hist. Inst. vii. 205 Called in French ‘Parage’, under which the near kinsmen of the eldest son still took an interest in the family property, but held it of him as his Peers.] |