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Unpaid labor (as for the maintenance of roads) required by a lord of his vassals in lieu of taxes
Answer for the clue "Unpaid labor (as for the maintenance of roads) required by a lord of his vassals in lieu of taxes ", 6 letters:
corvee
Word definitions for corvee in dictionaries
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Word definitions in The Collaborative International Dictionary
Corvee \Cor`vee"\ (k?r`v" or -v?"), n. [F. corv['e]e, fr. LL. corvada, corrogata, fr. L. corrogare to entreat together; cor- + rogare to ask.] (Feudal Law) An obligation to perform certain services, as the repair of roads, for the lord or sovereign.
Wiktionary
Word definitions in Wiktionary
n. (alternative form of corvee English)
WordNet
Word definitions in WordNet
n. unpaid labor (as for the maintenance of roads) required by a lord of his vassals in lieu of taxes
Wikipedia
Word definitions in Wikipedia
Corvée is a form of unpaid, unfree labor , which is intermittent in nature and for limited periods of time: typically only a certain number of days' work each year. Statute labour is a corvée imposed by a state for the purposes of public works . As such ...
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Word definitions in Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
mid-14c., "day's unpaid labor due to a lord by vassals under French feudal system" (abolished 1776), from Old French corvee (12c.), from Late Latin corrogata (opera) "requested work," from fem. past participle of Latin corrogare , from com- "with" (see ...
Usage examples of corvee.
It suggested that other slavery, which did not hide itself under the forms of conscription and corvee.
The edicts relative to the corvees & free circulation of grain, were first presented to the parliament and registered.
Hawaiian labor corvees built elaborate irrigation systems for taro fields yielding up to 24 tons per acre, the highest crop yields in all of Polynesia.
In Polynesian Hawaii the same bureaucrats (termed konohiki) extracted tribute and oversaw irrigation and organized labor corvees for the chief, whereas state societies have separate tax collectors, water district managers, and draft boards.
What of the corvees by which they command forced labour, of the ban de vendage, which gives them the first vintage, the banvin which enables them to control to their own advantage the sale of wine?
A Latin king could oppress the Greeks, squeeze them, humiliate them, tax them to poverty, dragoon them into his corvées or his armies.