enfeoff
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enfeoff
- /ɛnˈfɛf/ US, UK
- /ɪnˈfɛf/ US, UK
- /ɛnˈfiːf/ US, UK
- /ɪnˈfiːf/ US, UK
Rhymes with -ɛf, -iːf
Where it comes from
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.
verb enfeoffs · enfeoffes · enfeoffing · enfeoffed · enfeoff
-
To transfer a fief to, to endow with a fief; to put (a person) in legal possession of a freehold interest.
Suppose a man bargains to enfeoff me, as in our case here, and he afterwards enfeoffs another, and then he re-enters [i.e. on the first feoffee] and enfeoffs me, and the other ousts me. Now here the action of covenant may not be brought, because he has at last enfeoffed me according to his covenant,
Similar: feoff
-
To give up completely; to surrender, to yield.
[M]ore than one well-wisher who observed Ethelberta from afar feared that it might some day come to be said of her that she had / Enfeoffed herself to popularity: / That, being daily swallow'd by men's eyes, / They surfeited with honey, and began / To loathe the taste of sweetness, whereof a little
Similar: cede
Translations
Talk about this word "enfeoff." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/enfeoff. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. enfeoff. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/enfeoff "enfeoff." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/enfeoff.Cite this
@misc{enfeoff_2026,
title = {enfeoff},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/enfeoff},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
