vavasor

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vav·a·sor

also vav·a·sour  (văv′ə-sôr′, -so͝or′)
n.
A feudal tenant who ranked directly below a baron or peer.

[Middle English vavasour, from Old French, from Medieval Latin vavassor, possibly contraction of vassus vassōrum, vassal of vassals : vassus, vassal (from Vulgar Latin *vassus; see vassal) + vassōrum, genitive pl. of vassus, vassal.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

vavasor

,

vavassor

or

vavasour

n
1. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) (in feudal society) the noble or knightly vassal of a baron or great lord who also has vassals himself
2. (Historical Terms) (in feudal society) the noble or knightly vassal of a baron or great lord who also has vassals himself
[C13: from Old French vavasour, perhaps contraction of Medieval Latin vassus vassōrum vassal of vassals; see vassal]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

vav•a•sor

(ˈvæv əˌsɔr, -ˌsoʊr)

n.
a feudal vassal ranking just below a baron.
[1300–50; Middle English vavasour < Old French, perhaps contraction of Medieval Latin vassusvassōrum vassal of vassals; see vassal]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
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References in periodicals archive
So delighted is he by her company that when the vavasor comes to call him to supper he interprets the intrusion as a hostile act: "that night the vavasor made war upon me / by coming to fetch me / when it was the time and hour to sup" (247-49) ("mes tant me fist, la nuit, de guerre / li vavasors, qu'il me vint querre, / qant de soper fu tans et ore" [247-49]).
What follows is a complex set of attractions: Calogrenant's for his vavasor host's daughter and the vavasor's for Calogrenant.
Disoriented, he returns to the vavasor's castle, where both the vavasor and his daughter are glad to see him.
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