vassal

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Related to Vassals: Fiefs

vassal

dependent; bondman; servant; slave: The vassal cared for the entire cornfield.

Not to be confused with:

vessel – container; water craft; airship: The new boat was a seaworthy vessel.

vas·sal

(văs′əl)

1. A person who held land from a feudal lord and received protection in return for homage and allegiance.

2. A bondman; a slave.

3. A subordinate or dependent.

[Middle English, from Old French, from Vulgar Latin *vassallus, from *vassus, of Celtic origin; see upo in Indo-European roots.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

vassal

(ˈvæsəl)

1. (Historical Terms) (in feudal society) a man who entered into a personal relationship with a lord to whom he paid homage and fealty in return for protection and often a fief. A great vassal was in vassalage to a king and a rear vassal to a great vassal

2. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) (in feudal society) a man who entered into a personal relationship with a lord to whom he paid homage and fealty in return for protection and often a fief. A great vassal was in vassalage to a king and a rear vassal to a great vassal

a. a person, nation, etc, in a subordinate, suppliant, or dependent position relative to another

b. (as modifier): vassal status.

adj

4. (Historical Terms) of or relating to a vassal

5. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) of or relating to a vassal

[C14: via Old French from Medieval Latin vassallus, from vassus servant, of Celtic origin; compare Welsh gwas boy, Old Irish foss servant]

ˈvassal-less adj

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

vas•sal

(ˈvæs əl)

n.

1. (in the feudal system) a person granted the use of land in return for rendering homage, fealty, and usu. military service to a lord or other superior; feudal tenant.

2. a person holding some similar relation to a superior; a subject or subordinate.

3. a servant or slave.

adj.

4. of or characteristic of a vassal.

5. having the status or position of a vassal.

[1300–50; Middle English < Middle French < Medieval Latin vassallus=vass(us) servant (< Celtic; compare Welsh gwas young man, Irish foss servant) + -allus n. suffix]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun

vassal - a person holding a fief; a person who owes allegiance and service to a feudal lord

feudatory, liege, liege subject, liegeman

follower - a person who accepts the leadership of another

vassal

noun serf, slave, bondsman, subject, retainer, thrall, varlet (archaic), bondservant, liegeman the vassal's oath of homage to his lord

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

Translations

vassal

[ˈvæsəl] N → vasallo m

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

vassal

n (lit, fig) → Vasall m

adj → vasallisch, Vasallen-; vassal state → Vasallenstaat m

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

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References in classic literature ?

There was a common head, chieftain, or sovereign, whose authority extended over the whole nation; and a number of subordinate vassals, or feudatories, who had large portions of land allotted to them, and numerous trains of INFERIOR vassals or retainers, who occupied and cultivated that land upon the tenure of fealty or obedience, to the persons of whom they held it.

In those instances in which the monarch finally prevailed over his vassals, his success was chiefly owing to the tyranny of those vassals over their dependents.

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Can the wrinkled decrepit hag before thee, whose wrath must vent itself in impotent curses, forget she was once the daughter of the noble Thane of Torquilstone, before whose frown a thousand vassals trembled?''

Their wealth is the least they can surrender; they must also carry off with them the swarms that are besetting the castle, subscribe a surrender of their pretended immunities, and live under us as serfs and vassals; too happy if, in the new world that is about to begin, we leave them the breath of their nostrils.

Should he then presume to demand it, or to affirm he was unlawfully made my prisoner, by the belt of Saint Christopher, he will speak to one who hath never refused to meet a foe on foot or on horseback, alone or with his vassals at his back!''

The Lady Rowena the affianced bride of a vassal like thee?'' said De Bracy; ``Saxon, thou dreamest that the days of thy seven kingdoms are returned again.

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- is doubtless a great man; in his large gardens and that half-mile of greenhouses, where he has probably ripened his intellect and temper, he may say what he will to his hired vassals, but (as the Scotch say) - here

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He too worships fire; most faithful, broad, baronial vassal of the sun!

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O lady, deign to hold in remembrance this heart, thy vassal, that thus in anguish pines for love of thee."

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His merits, his learning, his quality of immediate vassal of the Bishop of Paris, threw the doors of the church wide open to him.

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"This policy annoys those who are trying to make such individuals as Huseynov as the leader of public opinion and glorify them, they are looking for vassals," he said.

Those annoyed with Azerbaijan's independent policy glorify blogger Mehman Huseynov

Neville Westerman Brynna We know what it's like to be vassals BORIS Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg MPs have described the Brexit proposal by the Prime Minister as leaving us (the United Kingdom) as a "vassal state".