v. t. To deprive of the feudal character or form. [ 1913 Webster ]
n. [ OE. feide, AS. f&aemacr_;hð, fr. fāh hostile; akin to OHG. fēhida, G. fehde, Sw. fejd, D. feide; prob. akin to E. fiend. See Foe. ]
Mutual feuds and battles betwixt their several tribes and kindreds. Purchas.
n. [ LL. feudum, feodum prob. of same origin as E. fief. See Fief, Fee. ] (Law) A stipendiary estate in land, held of a superior, by service; the right which a vassal or tenant had to the lands or other immovable thing of his lord, to use the same and take the profits thereof hereditarily, rendering to his superior such duties and services as belong to military tenure, etc., the property of the soil always remaining in the lord or superior; a fief; a fee. [ 1913 Webster ]
a. [ F. féodal, or LL. feudalis. ]
n. [ Cf. F. féodalisme. ] The feudal system; a system by which the holding of estates in land is made dependent upon an obligation to render military service to the king or feudal superior; feudal principles and usages. [ 1913 Webster ]
n. An upholder of feudalism. [ 1913 Webster ]
n. [ Cf. F. féodalité. ] The state or quality of being feudal; feudal form or constitution. Burke. [ 1913 Webster ]
n. The act of reducing to feudal tenure. [ 1913 Webster ]
v. t.
adv. In a feudal manner. [ 1913 Webster ]
a. [ LL. feudarius, fr. feudum. See 2d Feud. ] Held by, or pertaining to, feudal tenure. [ 1913 Webster ]
n.
a. & n. [ LL. feudatarius: cf. F. feudataire. ] See Feudatory. [ 1913 Webster ]
n.;
The grantee . . . was styled the feudatory or vassal. Blackstone. [ 1913 Webster ]
[ He ] had for feudatories great princes. J. H. Newman. [ 1913 Webster ]
a. Held from another on some conditional tenure;
n. [ Cf. F. feudiste. ] A writer on feuds; a person versed in feudal law. Spelman. [ 1913 Webster ]
n. [ LL. infeudatio, fr. infeudare to enfeoff: cf. F. inféodation. See Feud a fief. ] [ 1913 Webster ]
n. (Law)
The widow is immediate tenant to the heir, by a kind of subinfeudation, or undertenancy. Blackstone. [ 1913 Webster ]
v. t. [ 1st pref. un- + feudalize. ] To free from feudal customs or character; to make not feudal. Carlyle. [ 1913 Webster ]