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villeinage |
2 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: Villanage \Vil"lan*age\ (?; 48), n. [OF. villenage, vilenage. See {Villain}.] 1. (Feudal Law) The state of a villain, or serf; base servitude; tenure on condition of doing the meanest services for the lord. [In this sense written also {villenage}, and {villeinage}.] I speak even now as if sin were condemned in a perpetual villanage, never to be manumitted. --Milton. Some faint traces of villanage were detected by the curious so late as the days of the Stuarts. --Macaulay. 2. Baseness; infamy; villainy. [Obs.] --Dryden. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: villeinage n 1: the legal status or condition of a villein or feudal serf [syn: {villainage}] 2: tenure by which a villein held land
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