Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Neife
{
Neif
,Neife
}(nēf)
, Noun.
A woman born in the state of villeinage; a female serf.
Blackstone.
Definition 2024
neife
neife
English
Noun
neife (plural neifes)
- (historical) Alternative form of neif
- 1771, Blackstone, William, Sir, “Of the Modern English Tenures”, in Commentaries on the Laws of England, volume 2, pages 93–94:
- For the children of villeins were also in the same state of bondage with their parents; whence they were called in Latin, nativi, which gave rise to the female appellation of a villein, who was called a neife. [...] Neifes indeed had also an appeal of rape, in case the lord violated them by force.
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