a person holding a fief; a person who owes allegiance and service to a feudal lord
<noun.person>
a feudal lord entitled to allegiance and service
<noun.person>
city in eastern Belgium; largest French-speaking city in Belgium
<noun.location> [ adj ]
owing or owed feudal allegiance and service
<adj.all> one's liege lord a liege subject
Liege \Liege\ (l[=e]j), n. 1. A free and independent person; specif., a lord paramount; a sovereign. --Mrs. Browning.
The anointed sovereign of sighs and groans, Liege of all loiterers and malcontents. --Shak.
2. The subject of a sovereign or lord; a liegeman.
A liege lord seems to have been a lord of a free band; and his lieges, though serving under him, were privileged men, free from all other obligations, their name being due to their freedom, not to their service. --Skeat.
Liege \Liege\ (l[=e]j), a. [OE. lige, lege, F. lige, LL. ligius, legius, liege, unlimited, complete, prob. of German origin; cf. G. ledig free from bonds and obstacles, MHG. ledec, ledic, lidic, freed, loosed, and Charta Ottonis de Benthem, ann. 1253, ``ligius homo quod Teutonic[`e] dicitur ledigman,'' i. e., uni soli homagio obligatus, free from all obligations to others; influenced by L. ligare to bind. G. ledig perh. orig. meant, free to go where one pleases, and is perh. akin to E. lead to conduct. Cf. {Lead} to guide.] 1. Sovereign; independent; having authority or right to allegiance; as, a liege lord. --Chaucer.
She looked as grand as doomsday and as grave; And he, he reverenced his liege lady there. --Tennyson.
2. serving an independent sovereign or master; bound by a feudal tenure; obliged to be faithful and loyal to a superior, as a vassal to his lord; faithful; loyal; as, a liege man; a liege subject.