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enfeoff

[ en-fef, -feef ]
/ ɛnˈfɛf, -ˈfif /
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verb (used with object)
to invest with a freehold estate in land.
to give as a fief.
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Origin of enfeoff

1350–1400; Middle English enfe(o)ffen <Anglo-French enfe(o)ffer, equivalent to en- en-1 + Old French fiefer, fiever, derivative of fief fief

OTHER WORDS FROM enfeoff

en·feoff·ment, noun

Words nearby enfeoff

en famille, enfant perdu, enfant sauvage, enfant terrible, enfeeble, enfeoff, en fête, enfetter, enfever, Enfield, Enfield rifle
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use enfeoff in a sentence

  • Then bade the king enfeoff Siegfried, the youth, with land and castles, as he himself had done.

    The Nibelungenlied|Unknown

British Dictionary definitions for enfeoff

enfeoff
/ (ɪnˈfiːf) /
verb (tr)
property law to invest (a person) with possession of a freehold estate in land
(in feudal society) to take (someone) into vassalage by giving a fee or fief in return for certain services

Derived forms of enfeoff

enfeoffment, noun

Word Origin for enfeoff

C14: from Anglo-French enfeoffer; see fief
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
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