| a. | 1. | Sovereign; independent; having authority or right to allegiance; | |||||||||
| 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; | ||||||||||
| 3. | (Old Law) Full; perfect; complete; pure.
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| n. | 1. | A free and independent person; specif., a lord paramount; a sovereign. | |||||||||
| 2. | The subject of a sovereign or lord; a liegeman. | ||||||||||
| Noun | 1. | liege - a person holding a fief |
| 2. | Liege - city in eastern Belgium; largest French-speaking city in Belgium Synonyms: Luik | |
| Adj. | 1. | liege - owing or owed feudal allegiance and service; "one's liege lord"; "a liege subject" |
LIEGE, from the Latin, ligare, to bind. The bond subsisting between the subject and chief, or lord and vassal, binding the one to protection and just government, the other to tribute and due subjection. The prince or chief is called liege lord; the subjects liege men. The word is now applied as if the liegance or bond were only to attach the people to the prince. Stat. 8 Hen. VI. c. 10; 14 Hen. VIII. c. 2; 1 Bl. Com. 367.
ardent, bondmaid, bondman, bondslave, bondsman, bondswoman, boss, bwana, captive, chattel, chattel slave, chef, chief, church dignitary, churl, client, concubine, constant, creature, debt slave, dependent, ecclesiarch, elder, employer, feudal, feudatory, flunky, follower, galley slave, goodman, guru, hanger-on, helot, homager, husband, inferior, lackey, liege lord, liege man, liege subject, lord, lord paramount, loyal, master, minion, myrmidon, odalisque, overlord, padrone, paramount, paterfamilias, patriarch, patron, peon, rabbi, resolute, retainer, sahib, seigneur, seignior, serf, servant, servile, slave, starets, staunch, steadfast, stooge, subject, subordinate, subservient, teacher, theow, thrall, tributary, true, underling, understrapper, vassal, villein, yeoman