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

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

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

Obedient to the law of usage, after a certain number of years Stephan became a vassal of the seigniory.

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

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

Granted the seigniory of Lavaltrie in 1672; sent to the western posts as commandant, and replaced by La Durantaye, 1683; accompanied Denonville on his expedition against the Iroquois, 1687.

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