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serf
(redirected from Serfs)

   Also found in: Legal, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia 0.01 sec.
serf  (sûrf)
n.
1. A member of the lowest feudal class, attached to the land owned by a lord and required to perform labor in return for certain legal or customary rights.
2. An agricultural laborer under various similar systems, especially in 18th- and 19th-century Russia and eastern Europe.
3. A person in bondage or servitude.

[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin servus, slave.]

serfdom n.

serf [sɜːf]
n
(Historical Terms) (esp in medieval Europe) an unfree person, esp one bound to the land. If his lord sold the land, the serf was passed on to the new landlord
[from Old French, from Latin servus a slave; see serve]
serfdom , serfhood n
serflike  adj
ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Noun1.serf - (Middle Ages) a person who is bound to the land and owned by the feudal lordserf - (Middle Ages) a person who is bound to the land and owned by the feudal lord
Europe - the 2nd smallest continent (actually a vast peninsula of Eurasia); the British use `Europe' to refer to all of the continent except the British Isles
cottier, cotter - a medieval English villein
thrall - someone held in bondage
Dark Ages, Middle Ages - the period of history between classical antiquity and the Italian Renaissance

serf
noun vassal, servant, slave, thrall, bondsman, varlet (archaic), helot, villein, liegeman He was the son of an emancipated serf.
Translations
serf [sɜːf] Nsiervo/a m/f (de la gleba)
serf [ˈsɜːrf] nserf* $(serve)m/f
serf
nLeibeigene(r) mf
serf [sɜːf] nservo/a della gleba


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