corvée

[kawr-vey]

See more synonyms for corvée on Thesaurus.com

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.

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

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for corvee

servitude, slavery, gulag, corvee

Examples from the Web for corvee

Historical Examples of corvee

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

British Dictionary definitions for corvee

corvée

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

Word Origin and History for corvee

mid-14c., "day's unpaid labor due to a lord by vassals under French feudal system" (abolished 1776), from Old French corvee (12c.), from Late Latin corrogata (opera) "requested work," from fem. past participle of Latin corrogare, from com- "with" (see com-) + rogare "to ask" (see rogation).