seigniory

American  

[seen-yuh-ree] / ˈsin yə ri /

Or signory

noun

plural

seigniories

1. the power or authority of a seignior.

2. History/Historical. a lord's domain.

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seigniory British  

/ ˈseɪnjərɪ, ˈsiːnjərɪ /

noun

1. less common names for a seigneury

2. (in England) the fee or manor of a seignior; a feudal domain

3. the authority of a seignior or the relationship between him and his tenants

4. a body of lords

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Etymology

Origin of seigniory

1250–1300; Middle English seignorie < Old French; see seigneur, -y ³

Example Sentences

Deported to Germany from his Nazi-occupied feudal seigniory in the English Channel was U.S.-born Robert Woodward Hathaway, Seigneur of Sark by his 1929 marriage to the Dame of Sark.

From Time Magazine Archive

One of the properties on which he wanted the public to lend him $35,500,000 was St. Donat's Castle in Wales, the Lord of San Simeon's European seigniory.

From Time Magazine Archive

He continued to be a farmer on the Karnak farm, a dependency of the fief of Mezlean, held under the suzerainty of the seigniory of Plouernel.

From The Blacksmith's Hammer, or The Peasant Code A Tale of the Grand Monarch by Sue, Eug?ne

Hd Nephew of Sir Frederick Haldimand, joins him in Florida, 72; placed in charge of seigniory of Pabos, 73, 111; appointed ranger of the woods, 294; death of, 294.

From The Makers of Canada: Index and Dictionary of Canadian History by Various

"Your grandfather was born in the seigniory of Lamoral, so Andr� said."

From A Cry in the Wilderness by Waller, Mary E. (Mary Ella)