enfeoff

American  

[en-fef, -feef] / ɛnˈfɛf, -ˈfif /

verb (used with object)

1. to invest with a freehold estate in land.

2. to give as a fief.

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enfeoff British  

/ ɪnˈfiːf /

verb

1. property law to invest (a person) with possession of a freehold estate in land

2. (in feudal society) to take (someone) into vassalage by giving a fee or fief in return for certain services

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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

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 Monks, Popes, and their Political Intrigues by Alberger, John

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

From The Nibelungenlied by Shumway, Daniel Bussier

But I find in no place in Holy Scripture, that this office that ye would now enfeoff me with, accordeth to any priest of Christ's sect, nor to any other Christian man.

From Fifteenth Century Prose and Verse by Various