[syn: Liege, Luik]
ADJECTIVE (1)
1. owing or owed feudal allegiance and service;
- Example: "one's liege lord"
- Example: "a liege subject"
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Liege \Liege\ (l[=e]j), a. [OE. lige, lege, F. lige, LL. ligius,
legius, liege, unlimited, complete, prob. of German origin;
cf. G. ledig free from bonds and obstacles, MHG. ledec,
ledic, lidic, freed, loosed, and Charta Ottonis de Benthem,
ann. 1253, "ligius homo quod Teutonic[`e] dicitur ledigman,"
i. e., uni soli homagio obligatus, free from all obligations
to others; influenced by L. ligare to bind. G. ledig perh.
orig. meant, free to go where one pleases, and is perh. akin
to E. lead to conduct. Cf. Lead to guide.]
1. Sovereign; independent; having authority or right to
allegiance; as, a liege lord. --Chaucer.
[1913 Webster]
She looked as grand as doomsday and as grave;
And he, he reverenced his liege lady there.
--Tennyson.
[1913 Webster]
2. serving an independent sovereign or master; bound by a
feudal tenure; obliged to be faithful and loyal to a
superior, as a vassal to his lord; faithful; loyal; as, a
liege man; a liege subject.
[1913 Webster]
3. (Old Law) Full; perfect; complete; pure. --Burrill.
[1913 Webster]
Liege homage (Feudal Custom), that homage of one sovereign
or prince to another which acknowledged an obligation of
fealty and services.
Liege poustie [L. legitima potestas] (Scots Law), perfect,
i. e., legal, power; specif., having health requisite to
do legal acts.
Liege widowhood, perfect, i. e., pure, widowhood. [Obs.]
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Liege \Liege\ (l[=e]j), n.
1. A free and independent person; specif., a lord paramount;
a sovereign. --Mrs. Browning.
[1913 Webster]
The anointed sovereign of sighs and groans,
Liege of all loiterers and malcontents. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
2. The subject of a sovereign or lord; a liegeman.
[1913 Webster]
A liege lord seems to have been a lord of a free
band; and his lieges, though serving under him, were
privileged men, free from all other obligations,
their name being due to their freedom, not to their
service. --Skeat.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
liege
adj 1: owing or owed feudal allegiance and service; "one's liege
lord"; "a liege subject"
n 1: a person holding a fief; a person who owes allegiance and
service to a feudal lord [syn: vassal, liege,
liegeman, liege subject, feudatory]
2: a feudal lord entitled to allegiance and service [syn:
liege, liege lord]
3: city in eastern Belgium; largest French-speaking city in
Belgium [syn: Liege, Luik]