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fee tail

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noun

See under fee(def 4a).

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Origin of fee tail

1250–1300; Middle English < Anglo-French

fee

[fee]

noun

a charge or payment for professional services: a doctor's fee.
a sum paid or charged for a privilege: an admission fee.
a charge allowed by law for the service of a public officer.
Law.
  1. an estate of inheritance in land, either absolute and without limitation to any particular class of heirs(fee simple) or limited to a particular class of heirs (fee tail).
  2. an inheritable estate in land held of a feudal lord on condition of the performing of certain services.
  3. a territory held in fee.
a gratuity; tip.

verb (used with object), feed, fee·ing.

to give a fee to.
Chiefly Scot. to hire; employ.

Origin of fee

1250–1300; Middle English < Anglo-French; Old French fie, variant of fief fief. See feudal
Related formsfee·less, adjectiveo·ver·fee, nounsu·per·fee, noun

Synonyms for fee

1. stipend, salary, emolument; honorarium.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
British Dictionary definitions for fee tail

fee

noun

a payment asked by professional people or public servants for their servicesa doctor's fee; school fees
a charge made for a privilegean entrance fee
property law
  1. an interest in land capable of being inheritedSee fee simple, fee tail
  2. the land held in fee
(in feudal Europe) the land granted by a lord to his vassal
an obsolete word for a gratuity
in fee
  1. law(of land) in absolute ownership
  2. archaicin complete subjection

verb fees, feeing or feed

rare to give a fee to
mainly Scot to hire for a fee
Derived Formsfeeless, adjective

Word Origin for fee

C14: from Old French fie, of Germanic origin; see fief

fee tail

noun

property law
  1. a freehold interest in land restricted to a particular line of heirs
  2. an estate in land subject to such restrictionCompare fee simple

Word Origin for fee tail

C15: from Anglo-French fee tailé fee (or fief) determined, from taillier to cut
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 fee tail

fee

n.

late 13c., from Old French fieu, fief "fief, possession, holding, domain; feudal duties, payment," from Medieval Latin feodum "land or other property whose use is granted in return for service," widely said to be from Frankish *fehu-od "payment-estate," or a similar Germanic compound, in which the first element is cognate with Old English feoh "money, movable property, cattle" (also German Vieh "cattle," Gothic faihu "money, fortune"), from PIE *peku- "cattle" (cf. Sanskrit pasu, Lithuanian pekus "cattle;" Latin pecu "cattle," pecunia "money, property"); second element similar to Old English ead "wealth."

OED rejects this, and suggests a simple adaptation of Germanic fehu, leaving the Medieval Latin -d- unexplained. Sense of "payment for services" first recorded late 14c. Fee-simple is "absolute ownership," as opposed to fee-tail "entailed ownership," inheritance limited to some particular class of heirs (second element from Old French taillir "to cut, to limit").

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper