ceorl
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of ceorl
before 1000; this form borrowed (17th century) < Old English
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
While the pure "theow" or absolute slave disappeared therefore the ceorl or villein sank lower in the social scale.
From History of the English People, Volume I Early England, 449-1071; Foreign Kings, 1071-1204; The Charter, 1204-1216 by Green, John Richard
At last a light shone through the darkness, and towards it the ceorl who bore Egwina walked rapidly.
From A Maid at King Alfred?s Court by Madison, Lucy Foster
But these wars had often driven the ceorl or freeman of the township to "commend" himself to a thegn who pledged him his protection in consideration of payment in a rendering of labour.
From History of the English People, Volume I Early England, 449-1071; Foreign Kings, 1071-1204; The Charter, 1204-1216 by Green, John Richard
I see in yon distance the house of a ceorl.
From A Maid at King Alfred?s Court by Madison, Lucy Foster
But king and baronage themselves had changed like townsman and ceorl.
From History of the English People, Volume I Early England, 449-1071; Foreign Kings, 1071-1204; The Charter, 1204-1216 by Green, John Richard
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
