serf

views updated May 23 2018

serf Person legally bound to a lord. In Europe, under the feudal system, serfs had to provide labour and other services and were usually bound to the land, holding a portion for their own use. Gone from w Europe by the end of the Middle Ages, serfdom persisted in Russia and parts of e Europe into the mid-19th century.

World Encyclopedia

serf

views updated May 29 2018

serf / sərf/ • n. an agricultural laborer bound under the feudal system to work on his lord's estate.DERIVATIVES: serf·age / -fij/ n.serf·dom / -dəm/ n.

The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English

serf

views updated Jun 27 2018

serf †slave XV; person in servitude ‘attached to the soil’ XVII. — (O)F. :- L. servus slave.

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology T. F. HOAD

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