seigneur
nounUK /sɛˈnjɜ/ · US /sɛˈnjɝ/
Etymology Borrowed from Middle French seigneur, from Old French seignor. Doublet of seignior, senhor, senior, señor, senyor, signore, sir, and sire.
1
History, Human sciences, Sciences A feudal lord or noble.
- "Then you're not - " "Darling," I said, "do you really see me in the position of a seigneur, driving my serfs and villeins before me with a whip - even if the triffids haven't overrun me first?"1951, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1954, page 269:
- There was less and less love lost between peasants and seigneurs. The services which the latter had provided for the peasant community in the past had diminished in value.2002, Colin Jones, The Great Nation, Penguin, published 2003, page 156:
2
The hereditary feudal ruler of Sark.
- Beaumont lives on Sark, a small, autonomous island twenty-five miles off the coast of Normandy, with her husband, Michael, the island's seigneur.2012 October 29, Lauren Collins, The New Yorker:
3
Canada A landowner in Canada; the holder of a seigneurie.
4
A hereditary title in the Bailiwick of Jersey.
- Derived terms
- seigneuress, seigneurial, seigneury
- Related terms
- droit de seigneur, grand seigneur
- Coordinate terms
- seigneuresse, dame