SERF

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does serf mean? 

• SERF (noun)
  The noun SERF has 1 sense:

1. (Middle Ages) a person who is bound to the land and owned by the feudal lord

  Familiarity information: SERF used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SERF (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(Middle Ages) a person who is bound to the land and owned by the feudal lord

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

helot; serf; villein

Hypernyms ("serf" is a kind of...):

thrall (someone held in bondage)

Domain category:

Dark Ages; Middle Ages (the period of history between classical antiquity and the Italian Renaissance)

Domain region:

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)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "serf"):

cotter; cottier (a medieval English villein)

Derivation:

serfdom; serfhood (the state of a serf)

 Context examples 

I would rather wed a branded serf from my father's fields.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

One only lingered, the black-browed Baron Brocas, who, making a gambade which brought him within arm-sweep of the serf, slashed him across the face with his riding-whip.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“No longer ago than last night at the 'Pied Merlin,'” the clerk answered, recognizing the escaped serf who had been so outspoken as to his wrongs.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“I give not the pip of an apple for king or for noble,” cried the serf passionately.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Alleyne was still gazing after them, listening to the loud Hyke-a-Bayard! Hyke-a-Pomers! Hyke-a-Lebryt! with which they called upon their favorite hounds, when a group of horsemen crashed out through the underwood at the very spot where the serf and he were standing.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Alleyne doffed hat and bowed head at the sight of him, but the serf folded his hands and leaned them upon his cudgel, looking with little love at the knot of nobles and knights-in-waiting who rode behind the king.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The serf was about to reply, when the clear ringing call of a bugle burst from the wood close behind them, and Alleyne caught sight for an instant of the dun side and white breast of a lordly stag glancing swiftly betwixt the distant tree trunks.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Americans, while occasionally willing to be serfs, have always been obstinate about being peasantry.

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)