serf

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.

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

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serfdom n.

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serf

Noun

(esp. in medieval Europe) a labourer who could not leave the land on which he worked [Latin servus a slave]

serfdom n

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

serf - (Middle Ages) a person who is bound to the land and owned by the feudal lord helot, villein 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

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serf

noun vassal, servant, slave, thrall, bondsman, varlet (archaic) helot, villein, liegeman