liege

Definitions

1. 1.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.
2. 2.(Old Law) Full; perfect; complete; pure. Burrill. Liege homage (Feudal Custom), that homage of one sovereign or prince to another which acknowledged an obligation of fealty and services. -- Liege poustie Etym: [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.]
3. 3.A free and independent person; specif., a lord paramount; a sovereign. Mrs. Browning. The anointed sovereign of sighs and groans, Liege of all loiterers and malcontents. Shak.
4. 4.The subject of a sovereign or lord; a liegeman. 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.

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

Related questions

• What does "liege" mean?

Reverse-dictionary questions

Definition-first questions whose answer is liege.

• What is 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 called?
• What is a free and independent person; specif., a lord paramount; a sovereign. Mrs. Browning. The anointed sovereign of sighs and groans, Liege of all loiterers and malcontents. Shak called?