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r authority, or attached to a certain opinion; a company or set having a common belief or allegiance distinct from others; in religion, the believers in a particular creed, or upholders of a particular practice; especially, in modern times, a party dissenting from an established church; a denomination; in philosophy, t…

Placed under the power of another; specifically (International Law), owing allegiance to a particular sovereign or state; as, Jamaica is subject to Great Britain. Esau was never subject to Jacob. Locke.

s heirs, and truth and faith to bear of life and limb, and terrene honor. O. Eng. Oath of Allegiance, quoted by Blackstone. Common conceptions of the matters which lie at the basis of our terrene experience. Hickok.

an obligation, moral or legal; as, the sacred ties of friendship or of duty; the ties of allegiance. No distance breaks the tie of blood. Young.

One who violates his allegiance and betrays his country; one guilty of treason; one who, in breach of trust, delivers his country to an enemy, or yields up any fort or place intrusted to his defense, or surrenders an army or body of troops to the enemy, unless when vanquished; also, one who takes arms and levies war ag…

Consisting in treason; partaking of treason; implying breach of allegiance; as, a traitorous scheme. -- Trai"tor*ous*ly, adv. -- Trai"tor*ous*ness, n.

Like a traitor; involving treachery; violating allegiance or faith pledged; traitorous to the state or sovereign; perfidious in private life; betraying a trust; faithless. Loyal father of a treacherous son. Shak. The treacherous smile, a mask for secret hate. Cowper.

Violation of allegiance or of faith and confidence; treasonable or perfidious conduct; perfidy; treason.

offense of attempting to overthrow the government of the state to which the offender owes allegiance, or of betraying the state into the hands of a foreign power; disloyalty; treachery. The treason of the murthering in the bed. Chaucer.

in the times of the Stuarts. In Scotland a few fanatical nonjurors may have grudged their allegiance to an uncovenanted king. Sir T. E. May.

Not faithful; not observant of promises, vows, allegiance, or duty; violating trust or confidence; treacherous; perfidious; as, an unfaithful subject; an unfaithful agent or servant. My feet, through wine, unfaithful to their weight. Pope. His honor rooted in dishonor stood, And faith unfaithful kept him falsely true.…

orlds. Milton. There may be other worlds, where the inhabitants have never violated their allegiance to their almighty Sovereign. W. B. Sprague.