corvée

[ kawr-vey ]

/ kɔrˈveɪ /

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noun

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

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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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

Words nearby corvée

Corunna, coruscant, coruscate, coruscation, Corvallis, corvée, corves, corvette, corvina, corvine, corvo

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use corvée in a sentence

These men she saw now working in the dread corvee had been forced from their homes by a counterfeit Khedivial order.
Donovan Pasha And Some People Of Egypt, Complete|Gilbert Parker
It suggested that other slavery, which did not hide itself under the forms of conscription and corvee.
Donovan Pasha And Some People Of Egypt, Complete|Gilbert Parker
She thought he was referring obliquely to the corvee and the other thing in which her life-work was involved.
Donovan Pasha And Some People Of Egypt, Complete|Gilbert Parker
The seignior pays six sous for food, each corve, on men, and twelve sous on each corvee of four oxen.
The Origins of Contemporary France, Volume 1 (of 6)|Hippolyte A. Taine

I should have been with Yankling Sahib now but for this cursed beegar (the corvee).
Kim|Rudyard Kipling

British Dictionary definitions for corvée

corvée

/ (ˈkɔːveɪ) /

noun

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

the practice or an instance of forced labour

Word Origin for corvée

C14: from Old French, from Late Latin corrogāta contribution, from Latin corrogāre to collect, from rogāre to ask

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012