vavasor

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vav·a·sor

also vav·a·sour (văv′ə-sôr′, -so͝or′)

A feudal tenant who ranked directly below a baron or peer.

[Middle English vavasour, from Old French, from Medieval Latin vavassor, possibly contraction of vassus vassōrum, vassal of vassals : vassus, vassal (from Vulgar Latin *vassus; see vassal) + vassōrum, genitive pl. of vassus, vassal.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

vavasor

vavassor

vavasour

1. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) (in feudal society) the noble or knightly vassal of a baron or great lord who also has vassals himself

2. (Historical Terms) (in feudal society) the noble or knightly vassal of a baron or great lord who also has vassals himself

[C13: from Old French vavasour, perhaps contraction of Medieval Latin vassus vassōrum vassal of vassals; see vassal]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

vav•a•sor

(ˈvæv əˌsɔr, -ˌsoʊr)

n.

a feudal vassal ranking just below a baron.

[1300–50; Middle English vavasour < Old French, perhaps contraction of Medieval Latin vassusvassōrum vassal of vassals; see vassal]

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References in classic literature ?

Francis Vavassor, 15 a learned French jesuit, entered at greater length on this subject, and produced further proofs from internal evidence, from the use of the word Piraeus in describing the harbour of Athens, a name which was not given till two hundred years after Aesop, and from the introduction of other modern words, that many of these fables must have been at least committed to writing posterior to the time of Aesop, and more boldly suggests Babrias as their author or collector.

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"I returned Thursday afternoon, bringing with me my own boy, Vavassor Morgan, and two other children - Edward Mathias and Stanley Howells."

Children return from Pasteur Institute; RETRO REPORT August, 1899 How we covered..

Having arrived at the castle of Escavalon (Wolfram's Schampfanzun, Heinrich's Karamphi), Chretien's Gauvain is greeted in extremely amorous terms by the sexually assertive daughter of the castle (Antikonie in Wolfram), but the couple are interrupted in their dalliance by a vavassor who berates 'Antikonie' for reciprocating the affections of the very man who had supposedly killed her father, the late King of Escavalon.

'Siner tugende anegenge sagen': The re-writing of Arthurian (hi)story in 'Diu Crone'