seigneur

American  

[seen-yur, seyn-, se-nyœr] / sinˈyɜr, seɪn-, sɛˈnyœr /

noun

(sometimes initial capital letter)

seigneurs plural

1. a lord, especially a feudal lord.

2. (in French Canada) a holder of a seigneury.

---

seigneur British  

/ sɛˈnjɜː, sɛɲœr /

noun

1. a feudal lord, esp in France

2. (in French Canada, until 1854) the landlord of an estate that was subdivided among peasants who held their plots by a form of feudal tenure

---

Other Word Forms

• seigneurial
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of seigneur

1585–95; < French < Vulgar Latin *senior lord. See senior

Example Sentences

So I could not have been more thrilled when #MeToo ripped away the curtain on the murky transgressions and diminishments that women had endured in the droit du seigneur era.

From New York Times • May 2, 2020

But the way the campaign played out, with the release of the tape, it was almost as if people were talking about droit du seigneur all over again.

From New York Times • Nov. 25, 2016

He is interrupted by the arrival of Figaro and a group of peasants praising him for abolishing the droit de seigneur.

From The Guardian • Aug. 14, 2012

This new cinema will be cut and pasted together in a world beyond copyright, where droit d'auteur will soon seem as medieval as droit du seigneur.

From The Guardian • Jul. 12, 2011

The so-called "act of investiture" generally followed, the seigneur handing over to the vassal a bit of turf, a stick, or some other object symbolizing the transfer of the usufruct of the property in question.

From A Source Book of Medi?val History Documents Illustrative of European Life and Institutions from the German Invasions to the Renaissance by Ogg, Frederic Austin