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Thesaurus: villanage

The state of a villain, or serf; base servitude; tenure on condition of doing the meanest services for the lord.

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Definitions

  1. n. The state of a villain, or serf; base servitude; tenure on condition of doing the meanest services for the lord.
  2. n. Baseness; infamy; villainy.
  3. 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.
  4. The state of a villain, or serf; base servitude; tenure oncondition of doing the meanest services for the lord. [In this sensewritten 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 lateas the days of the Stuarts. Macaulay.
  5. n. The state of a villain, or serf; base servitude; tenure on condition of doing the meanest services for the lord. n. Baseness; infamy; villainy.