corvée

American  

[kawr-vey] / kɔrˈveɪ /

noun

1. unpaid labor for one day, as on the repair of roads, exacted by a feudal lord.

2. an obligation imposed on inhabitants of a district to perform services, as repair of roads, bridges, etc., for little or no remuneration.

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corvée British  

/ ˈkɔːveɪ /

noun

1. European history a day's unpaid labour owed by a feudal vassal to his lord

2. the practice or an instance of forced labour

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Etymology

Origin of corvée

1300–50; Middle English < Middle French < Late Latin corrogāta contribution, collection, noun use of feminine of Latin corrogātus (past participle of corrogāre to collect by asking), equivalent to cor- cor- + rogā ( re ) to ask + -tus past participle suffix

Example Sentences

To do so, they resurrected corvée, a 19th-century Haitian law for indentured labor.

From New York Times

One polity in this nation developed the position of uparaja under Trailokanat and used a corvee system of nai and phrai before it fell to Alaungpaya.

From Slate

He envied those not burdened with “water duty,” or “corvée de l’eau,” as it is referred to here — the trek, and then the lowering of bowls or buckets, by rope, into the deep wells.

From New York Times

Could I reduce this epistolary corvée within the limits of my friends and affairs ... my life would be as happy as the infirmities of age would admit, and I should look on its consummation with the composure of one "qui summum nec metuit diem nec optat."

From Project Gutenberg

The hateful slavery of the Cagayanes had been abolished; the forced cultivation of tobacco was a thing of the past, and in all the Archipelago the corvée had been reduced.

From Project Gutenberg