seigneur

[seen-yur, seyn-; French se-nyœr]

noun, plural sei·gneurs

[seen-yurz, seyn-; French se-nyœr] /sinˈyɜrz, seɪn-; French sɛˈnyœr/. (sometimes initial capital letter)

a lord, especially a feudal lord.
(in French Canada) a holder of a seigneury.

Origin of seigneur

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

Related formssei·gneu·ri·al

[seen-yur-ee-uh l, seyn-] /sinˈyɜr i əl, seɪn-/, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for seigneurial

Historical Examples of seigneurial

But we have much to examine ere we penetrate the seigneurial hall.
Life on a Mediaeval Barony
William Stearns Davis
Everything in your personality was grand, seigneurial, immense in scale.
Musical Portraits
Paul Rosenfeld
They lived in poor, mean cabins, far from the towns and under the protection of a seigneurial chteau or abbey.
Castles and Chateaux of Old Navarre and the Basque Provinces
Francis Miltoun
Naturally its powers were greater or less according as the town was royal, seigneurial, or communal.
Guilds in the Middle Ages
George Renard
The diamonds prove worthless, but Cartier receives a title and retires to a seigneurial mansion at St. Malo.
Canada: the Empire of the North
Agnes C. Laut

British Dictionary definitions for seigneurial

seigneur

noun

a feudal lord, esp in France
(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

Derived Formsseigneurial, adjective

Word Origin for seigneur

C16: from Old French, from Vulgar Latin senior, from Latin: an elderly man; see senior

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 seigneurial

seigneur

"feudal landowner in France," 1590s, from Middle French seigneur, from Old French seignor (see seignior). Related: Seigneuress.