enfeoff
Syllables: en·feoff/ɛnˈfɛf/
enfeoff verb: to transfer a fief to, to endow with a fief; to put (a person) in legal possession of a freehold interest.
Verb
enfeoff (third-person singular simple present enfeoffs or (obsolete) enfeoffes, present participle enfeoffing, simple past and past participle enfeoffed)
- To transfer a fief to, to endow with a fief; to put (a person) in legal possession of a freehold interest.
- Suppose a man bargains to enfeoff me, as in our case here, and he afterwards enfeoffs another, and then he re-enters [i.e. on the first feoffee] and enfeoffs me, and the other ousts me. Now here the action of covenant may not be brought, because he has at last enfeoffed me according to his...[1442, William Paston, Justice of the Common Pleas, Shipton v. Dogge (No. 2); Doige’s Case (Y. B. Trinity 20 Hen. VI, folio 34, pl. 4; Selden Society volume 51, page 97); quoted in A[lfred] W[illiam]...
- I have infeffed Richarde Pygot, sarjeaunt of the lawe, John Norton, knyght, John Pygott of Rypon, gentilman, and Sir Thomas Nobull, prest, in lands and tenements within the fraunchese of Rypon, [...][1466 April 28, “XXXV. The Will of Ranulph Pigot, Esq. of Clotherham. [...] Apr. 20, 1466 [Julian calendar]”, in James Raine, Jun., editor, Testamenta Eboracensia. A Selection of Wills from the...
- Synonyms:
- feoff
- To give up completely; to surrender, to yield.
- [M]ore than one well-wisher who observed Ethelberta from afar feared that it might some day come to be said of her that she had / Enfeoffed herself to popularity: / That, being daily swallow'd by men's eyes, / They surfeited with honey, and began / To loathe the taste of sweetness, whereof a little...1876, Thomas Hardy, “Ethelberta’s House (continued)—The British Museum”, in The Hand of Ethelberta: A Comedy in Chapters […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC, page 265
- Le Matin will be a newspaper which will not have any political opinions, which will not be enfeoffed to any bank, which will not sell its patronage to any business; it will be a newspaper giving news information, telegraphic, universal and true.1992, Marie-Christine Leps, “Textual Construction: Producing Information”, in Apprehending the Criminal: The Production of Deviance in Nineteenth-century Discourse, Durham, N.C.; London: Duke...
- Synonyms:
- cede
enfeoff meaning in Urdu
enfeoff in Urdu
- ہتھیار ڈالنا
Examples of enfeoff in a sentence
- Suppose a man bargains to enfeoff me, as in our case here, and he afterwards enfeoffs another, and then he re-enters [i.e. on the first feoffee] and enfeoffs me, and the other ousts me.[1442, William Paston, Justice of the Common Pleas, Shipton v. Dogge (No. 2); Doige’s Case (Y. B. Trinity 20 Hen. VI, folio 34, pl. 4...
- And all this he [Pope Pius V] doth to enfeoff the pope with that fulness of power wherunto he entitleth Peter.1582, John Jewel, edited by Io[hn] Garbrand, A Viewe of a Seditious Bul sent into Englande, from Pius Quintus Bishop of Rome, Anno. 1569....
- And if a Man doth bargain with another to enfeoff him of certain Lands, and afterwards he enfeoffeth another Man, he with whom he made the Bargain, ſhall have a Writ of Diſceit.1718, Anthony Fitz-Herbert [i.e., Anthony Fitzherbert], “Writ de Deceit”, in The New Natura Brevium of the Most Reverend Judge, Mr. Anthony...
- [T]he Zhou conquerors had attempted to control their vast new territories through "enfeoffing" relatives and allies in walled towns throughout their kingdom.1990, Mark Edward Lewis, “The Warring State”, in Sanctioned Violence in Early China (SUNY Series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture)...
Synonyms of enfeoff
Forms of enfeoff
| third-person singular present | enfeoffs |
|---|---|
| present participle | enfeoffing |
| past participle | enfeoffed |
| past | enfeoffed |
| alternative form | infeff |
| alternative form | infeft |
| alternative form | infeoff |
| third-person singular present (obsolete) | enfeoffes |
| second-person singular present (archaic) | enfeoffest |
| second-person singular past (archaic) | enfeoffedst |
| third-person singular present (archaic) | enfeoffeth |
Origin of enfeoff
From Late Middle English enfeffen, enfeoffen (“to grant (property, rights, etc.) under the feudal system”) [and other forms], from Old French enfeffer, enfieffer (compare Anglo-Latin infeoffāre, Anglo-Norman enfeoffer), from en- (prefix meaning ‘in, into’) + fief (“estate held by a person on condition of providing military service to a superior”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peḱu- (“livestock, especially sheep or cattle”)). The English word is analysable as en- + feoff.
Words formed from enfeoff
Words that rhyme with enfeoff
Questions about enfeoff
- What does enfeoff mean?
- Enfeoff means to transfer a fief to, to endow with a fief; to put (a person) in legal possession of a freehold interest.
- What is enfeoff in Urdu?
- Enfeoff in Urdu is ہتھیار ڈالنا. See Enfeoff meaning in Urdu.
- How do you use enfeoff in a sentence?
- Suppose a man bargains to enfeoff me, as in our case here, and he afterwards enfeoffs another, and then he re-enters [i.e. on the first feoffee] and enfeoffs me, and the other ousts me.
- What part of speech is enfeoff?
- Enfeoff is a verb.
- How do you pronounce enfeoff?
- Enfeoff is pronounced /ɛnˈfɛf/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of enfeoff?
- The past tense of enfeoff is enfeoffed.
Words near enfeoff in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: enfeoff (page history and authors); enfeoff (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “enfeoff.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/enfeoff. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.