enfeoff
/ɛnˈfɛf/ verb
Forms enfeoffs enfeoffing enfeoffed enfeoffest enfeoffedst enfeoffeth enfeoffes infeff infeft infeoff
- verb (transitive, chiefly law, historical) To transfer a fief to, to endow with a fief; to put (a person) in legal possession of a freehold interest.
- verb (transitive, figuratively) To give up completely; to surrender, to yield.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Late Middle English enfeffen, enfeoffen (“to grant (property, rights, etc.) under the feudal system”) [and other forms], from Old French enfeffer, enfieffer (compare Anglo-Latin infeoffāre, Anglo-Norman enfeoffer), from en- (prefix meaning ‘in, into’) + fief (“estate held by a person on condition of providing military service to a superior”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peḱu- (“livestock, especially sheep or cattle”)). The English word is analysable as en- + feoff.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To give a feud, or right in land, to; to invest with a fief or fee; to invest (any one) with a freehold estate by the process of feoffment. Mozley & W.
- verb To give in vassalage; to make subservient. [Obs.]
Etymology [Pref. en- + feoff, fief: cf. LL. infeofare, OF. enfeffer, enfeofer.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “enfeoff”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details