Search Result for "liege": 
Wordnet 3.0

NOUN (3)

1. a person holding a fief; a person who owes allegiance and service to a feudal lord;
[syn: vassal, liege, liegeman, liege subject, feudatory]

2. a feudal lord entitled to allegiance and service;
[syn: liege, liege lord]

3. city in eastern Belgium; largest French-speaking city in Belgium;
[syn: Liege, Luik]


ADJECTIVE (1)

1. owing or owed feudal allegiance and service;
- Example: "one's liege lord"
- Example: "a liege subject"


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Liege \Liege\ (l[=e]j), a. [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. 1253, "ligius homo quod Teutonic[`e] 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. [1913 Webster] She looked as grand as doomsday and as grave; And he, he reverenced his liege lady there. --Tennyson. [1913 Webster] 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. [1913 Webster] 3. (Old Law) Full; perfect; complete; pure. --Burrill. [1913 Webster] Liege homage (Feudal Custom), that homage of one sovereign or prince to another which acknowledged an obligation of fealty and services. Liege poustie [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.] [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Liege \Liege\ (l[=e]j), n. 1. A free and independent person; specif., a lord paramount; a sovereign. --Mrs. Browning. [1913 Webster] The anointed sovereign of sighs and groans, Liege of all loiterers and malcontents. --Shak. [1913 Webster] 2. The subject of a sovereign or lord; a liegeman. [1913 Webster] 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. [1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

liege adj 1: owing or owed feudal allegiance and service; "one's liege lord"; "a liege subject" n 1: a person holding a fief; a person who owes allegiance and service to a feudal lord [syn: vassal, liege, liegeman, liege subject, feudatory] 2: a feudal lord entitled to allegiance and service [syn: liege, liege lord] 3: city in eastern Belgium; largest French-speaking city in Belgium [syn: Liege, Luik]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

81 Moby Thesaurus words for "liege": 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
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

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.