LIEGE
liege
(adjective) owing or owed feudal allegiance and service; “one’s liege lord”; “a liege subject”
Liege, Luik
(noun) city in eastern Belgium; largest French-speaking city in Belgium
liege, liege lord
(noun) a feudal lord entitled to allegiance and service
vassal, liege, liegeman, liege subject, feudatory
(noun) a person holding a fief; a person who owes allegiance and service to a feudal lord
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Noun
liege (plural lieges)
A free and independent person; specifically, a lord paramount; a sovereign.
(in full liege lord) A king or lord.
The subject of a sovereign or lord; a liegeman.
Adjective
liege (not comparable)
Sovereign; independent; having authority or right to allegiance.
Serving an independent sovereign or master; bound by a feudal tenure; obliged to be faithful and loyal to a superior, such as a vassal to his lord; faithful.
(obsolete, legal) Full; perfect; complete; pure.
Source: Wiktionary
Liege, a. Etym: [OE. lige, lege, F. lige, LL. ligius, legius, liege,
unlimited, complete, prob. of German origin; cf. G. ledig free from
bonds and obstacles, MHG. ledec, ledic, lidic, freed, loosed, and
Charta Ottonis de Benthem, ann. ligius homo quod Teutonicè dicitur
ledigman," i. e., uni soli homagio obligatus, free from all
obligations to others; influenced by L.ligare to bind. G. ledig perh.
orig. meant, free to go where one pleases, and is perh. akin to
E.lead to conduct. Cf. Lead to guide.]
1. Sovereign; independent; having authority or right to allegiance;
as, a liege lord. Chaucer.
She looked as grand as doomsday and as grave; And he, he reverenced
his liege lady there. Tennyson.
2. 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.
3. (Old Law)
Definition: 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.]
Liege, n.
1. 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.
2. 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