'fealty' definitions:

Definition of 'fealty'

(from WordNet)
noun
The loyalty that citizens owe to their country (or subjects to their sovereign) [syn: allegiance, fealty]

Definition of 'fealty'

From: GCIDE
  • fealty \fe"al*ty\ (f[=e]"al*t[y^]), n. [OE. feaute, OF. feaut['e], fealt['e], feelt['e], feelteit, fr. L. fidelitas, fr. fidelis faithful. See Feal, and cf. Fidelity.]
  • 1. Fidelity to one's lord; the feudal obligation by which the tenant or vassal was bound to be faithful to his lord; the special oath by which this obligation was assumed; fidelity to a superior power, or to a government; loyality. It is no longer the practice to exact the performance of fealty, as a feudal obligation. --Wharton (Law Dict.). --Tomlins. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. Fidelity; constancy; faithfulness, as of a friend to a friend, or of a wife to her husband. [1913 Webster]
  • He should maintain fealty to God. --I. Taylor. [1913 Webster]
  • Makes wicked lightnings of her eyes, and saps The fealty of our friends. --tennyson. [1913 Webster]
  • Swore fealty to the new government. --Macaulay. [1913 Webster]
  • Note: Fealty is distinguished from homage, which is an acknowledgment of tenure, while fealty implies an oath. See Homage. --Wharton.
  • Syn: Homage; loyality; fidelity; constancy. [1913 Webster]