allegeance3t

An old spelling of allegiance. allegementt (a-lej'ment), n. [ alleger (a-lej'er), n. One who alleges. Alleghany vine. Same as Adlumia cirrhosa. allegiance (a-lē'jans), n. [Early mod. E. also allegeance, alleageance, etc., ME. liege, lege, E. liege, q. v. The mod. F. allégeance in this sense is from the E. word.] 1. The tie or obligation of a subject or citizen to his sovereign or government; the duty of fidelity to a king, government, or state. Every citizen owes allegiance to the government under which he is born. Natural or implied allegiance is that obligation which one owes to the nation of which he is a natural-born citizen or subject so long as he remains such, and it does not arise from any expre promise. Expre allegiance is that obligation which proceeds from an expre promise or oath of fidelity. Local or temporary allegiance is due from an alien to the government or state under or in which he resides. In the United States the paramount allegiance of a citizen has been decided to be due to the general government, and not to the government of the particular State in which he is domiciled. Fealty is the bond that ties any man to another to whom he undertakes to be faithful; the bond is created by the undertaking and embodied in the oath. Homage is the form that binds the va al to the lord, whose man he becomes, and of whom he holds the land for which he performs the ceremony on his knees and with his hands in his lord's hands. Allegiance is the duty which each man of the nation owes to the head of the nation, whether the man be a land-owner or landle , the va al of a mesne lord or a lordle man; and allegiance is a legal duty to the king, the state, or the nation, whether it be embodied in an oath or not. But although thus distinct in origin, the three obligations had come in the middle ages to have, as regards the king, one effect. Stubbs , Const. Hist., § 785. The conquest of the Danelaw was followed by the earliest instances of those oaths of allegiance which mark the is withdrawn. eral; fidelity to any person or thing; devotion. Hence-2. Observance of obligation in gen That I [Bolingbroke] did pluck allegiance from men's hearts, Fond shouts and salutations from their mouths, Even in the presence of the crowned king. Shak., 1 Hen. IV., iii. 2. Love, all the faith and all the allegiance then. Pope, E ay on Man, iii. 235. =Syn. Allegiance, Loyalty, Fealty. Allegiance is the most formal and official of these words; it is a matter of principle, and applies especially to conduct; the oath of alle giance covers conduct only. Loyalty is a matter of both principle and sentiment, conduct and feeling; it implies enthusiasm and devotion, and hence is most frequently chosen for figurative uses: as, loyalty to a lover, husband, family, clan, friends, old traditions, religion. Neither alle giance nor loyalty is confined to its original meaning of the obligation due from a subject to a prince. Fealty has escaped le completely from this earliest sense, but has a permi ible use in the sense of fidelity under obligation of various kinds. Our people quarrel with obedience; Swearing allegiance , and the love of soul, To stranger blood, to foreign royalty. Shak., K. John, v. 1. A man who could command the unswerving loyalty of honest and impulsive Dick Steele could not have been a coward or a backbiter. Lowell, Study Windows, p. 429. Nor did he doubt her more, But rested in her fealty , till he crown'd A happy life with a fair death. Tennyson, Geraint.