Feoffors

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Those who give land to a vassal under feudal tenure in exchange for service or loyalty
2. The grantors of a feudal estate, who hand over property to a tenant bound by obligations
3. People who confer a fee or fief on another, creating a feudal landholding relationship

Etymology: "Feoffors" is simply the plural of "feoffor," a person who grants a feoff, meaning a fief or landed estate held in exchange for service. The "-or" ending marks the agent, the one doing the granting, in the same way that "grantor" or "donor" names the party who transfers something. Under the medieval system of feudal tenure, a lord who handed land to a tenant was the feoffor, and the tenant who received it was the feoffee, so the two terms formed a matched pair in property transfers.

Synonyms: grantor, donor

Antonyms: feoffee