enfeoff
Americanverb (used with object)
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to invest with a freehold estate in land.
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to give as a fief.
verb
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property law to invest (a person) with possession of a freehold estate in land
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(in feudal society) to take (someone) into vassalage by giving a fee or fief in return for certain services
Other Word Forms
- enfeoffment noun
Etymology
Origin of enfeoff
1350–1400; Middle English enfe(o)ffen < Anglo-French enfe(o)ffer, equivalent to en- en- 1 ( def. ) + Old French fiefer, fiever, derivative of fief fief
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.
But these small tenants are all sub-tenants enfeoffed by the principal freeholders whose own tenements are distributed into regular agrarian unity.
From Project Gutenberg
Enfeoff′ment, act of enfeoffing: the deed which invests with the fee of an estate.
From Project Gutenberg
The oath concludes thus: "I shall not sell, nor give away, nor mortgage, "enfeoff anew, nor in any way alienate the possessions "belonging to my table, without the leave of the Ro- "man Pontiff.
From Project Gutenberg
He reinstated old duchies and counties, and enfeoffed his loyal Germans.
From Project Gutenberg
As a villein might be enfeoffed of freeholds, though they lay at the mercy of his lord, so a freeman might hold tenements in villenage.
From Project Gutenberg
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.
