villeinage
Americannoun
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the tenure by which a villein held land and tenements from a lord.
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the condition or status of a villein.
noun
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the status and condition of a villein
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the tenure by which a villein held his land
Etymology
Origin of villeinage
1275–1325; Middle English vilenage < Anglo-French, Old French. See villein, -age
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Yea," said he, "that wot I well, that these are of the kin of the daughters of the horse-leech; but how shall they slake their greed, seeing that as thou sayest villeinage shall be gone?
From A Dream of John Ball; and, a king's lesson by Morris, William
Thus, in the first half of the sixteenth century, the old serfdom which still existed in a very harsh form in many provinces was mitigated, and villeinage substituted.
From Pictures of German Life in the XVIIIth and XIXth Centuries, Vol. I. by Freytag, Gustav
The fathers early enacted that there should be neither bond slaves nor villeinage amongst us except captives taken in just wars and those condemned judicially to serve.
From Masterpieces of Negro Eloquence The Best Speeches Delivered by the Negro from the days of Slavery to the Present Time by Dunbar-Nelson, Alice Moore
Their inhabitants, in spite of ascetic regulations, found that life was none so hard—at least in comparison with that of serfdom or villeinage; luxuries were not less available than to the laity.
From England under the Tudors by Innes, Arthur D. (Arthur Donald)
The ceorls tended to sink to the position known later as villeinage.
From The World's Greatest Books — Volume 11 — Ancient and Mediæval History by Hammerton, John Alexander, Sir
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.