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An estate held of a superior on condition of military service; a fee; a feud. See under Benefice, n., 2.

A fief held of a superior feudatory; a fief held by an under tenant. Blackstone.

efly used as an adjective in the sense of behind, rear, subordinate. Arriere fee, Arriere fief, a fee or fief dependent on a superior fee, or a fee held of a feudatory. -- Arriere vassal, the vassal of a vassal.

A title or degree of nobility; originally, the possessor of a fief, who had feudal tenants under him; in modern times, in France and Germany, a nobleman next in rank below a count; in England, a nobleman of the lowest grade in the House of Lords, being next below a viscount.

An estate in lands; a fief.

Originally, a high judicial officer of the German emperors; afterward, the holder of a fief, to whom was granted the right to exercise certain imperial powers within his own domains. [Germany]

To give a feud, or right in land, to; to invest with a fief or fee; to invest (any one) with a freehold estate by the process of feoffment. Mozley & W.

f a superior's land, as a stipend for services to be performed; also, the land so held; a fief.

, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Feoffed; p. pr. & vb. n.. Feoffing.] Etym: [OE. feffen, OF. feffer, fieffer, F. fieffer, fr. fief fief; cf. LL. feoffare, fefare. See Fief.] (Law)

litary tenure, etc., the property of the soil always remaining in the lord or superior; a fief; a fee.

Of or pertaining to feuds, fiefs, or feels; as, feudal rights or services; feudal tenures.

who held his lands of a superior on condition of feudal service; the tenant of a feud or fief. The grantee . . . was styled the feudatory or vassal. Blackstone. [He] had for feudatories great princes. J. H. Newman.

A knight who carried a banner, who possessed fiefs to a greater amount than the knight bachelor, and who was obliged to serve in war with a greater number of attendants. The dignity was sometimes conferred by the sovereign in person on the field of battle.

one holds of a lord or proprietor in consideration of some military or pecuniary service; fief; fee.

The grantee of a fief, feud, or fee; one who holds land of superior, and who vows fidelity and homage to him; a feudatory; a feudal tenant. Burrill.

ral officers who originally represented the bishops, but later erected their offices into fiefs, and became feudal nobles.