- serf
- A person who, under the feudal system, was bound to the soil of his birth-place to perform menial service for the lord of the manor.
Ballentine's law dictionary. Anderson, W.S.. 1998.
serf
Look at other dictionaries:
serf — serf … Dictionnaire des rimes
serf — serf, serve [ sɛr(f), sɛrv ] n. • XIe; lat. servus « esclave » ♦ Hist. Sous la féodalité, Personne qui n avait pas de liberté personnelle complète, était attachée à une terre, frappée de diverses incapacités et assujettie à certaines obligations… … Encyclopédie Universelle
serf — serf, erve (sèrf, sèr v ; au pluriel, la plupart font entendre l f ; cependant quelques uns le prononcent sêr, comme cerfs ; c est ainsi qu au XVIe siècle Palsgrave, p. 25, indique la prononciation ; Masson, Helvét. I, l a fait rimer avec fers :… … Dictionnaire de la Langue Française d'Émile Littré
Serf — Serf, n. [F., fr. L. serus servant, slave; akin to servare to protect, preserve, observe, and perhaps originally, a client, a man under one s protection. Cf. {Serve}, v. t.] A servant or slave employed in husbandry, and in some countries attached … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
serf — (n.) late 15c., slave, from M.Fr. serf, from L. servum (nom. servus) slave (see SERVE (Cf. serve)). Fallen from use in original sense by 18c. Meaning lowest class of cultivators of the soil in continental European countries is from 1610s. Use by… … Etymology dictionary
serf — SERF, Serve. adj. Qui n est pas libre, qui est entierement dependant d un maistre. Les hommes serfs. il est de condition serve. Serf, est aussi subst. Il n y a point de serfs en France … Dictionnaire de l'Académie française
serf — Mot Monosíl·lab Nom masculí … Diccionari Català-Català
serf — [sə:f US sə:rf] n [Date: 1400 1500; : French; Origin: Latin servus; SERVE1] someone in the past who lived and worked on land that they did not own and who had to obey the owner of the land →↑slave1 (1) →↑peasant … Dictionary of contemporary English
serf — [ sɜrf ] noun count in the past, someone who lived and worked on land belonging to another person and who could not leave without that person s permission … Usage of the words and phrases in modern English
serf — [n] slave bondservant, bondsman/woman, chattel, laborer, peon, servant, vassal, villain, villein; concept 348 … New thesaurus
serf — ► NOUN ▪ (in the feudal system) an agricultural labourer who was tied to working on a particular estate. DERIVATIVES serfdom noun. ORIGIN Latin servus slave … English terms dictionary
