villain (vilan)

and a. [Also archaically, in and historical use, villein; sometimes villan, early mod. E. vilayn, etc.; farm-servant, serf, clown, rights, except that the lord might not kill or maim them, or ravish the females; they could acquire or hold no property against their lord's will; they were obliged to perform all the menial services he demanded; and the cottages and plots of land they occupied were held merely at his will. In respect, however, of other persons besides their lord they had the rights and privileges of freemen. Villains were either regardant (which see) or in gro . They were in view of the law annexed to the soil ( adscript i or adscript it i i glebæ ), belonging to a manor as fixtures, pa ing with it when it was conveyed or inherited, and they could not be sold or transferred as persons separate from the land. The latter belonged personally to their lord, who could sell or transfer them at will. Villain ? by my blood, I am as free-born as your Venice duke! Middle ton , Blurt, Master-Constable, ii. 1. The villeins owe to the lord all sorts of dues and services, personal labour, among others, on the lands which form his domain; they may not leave the Manor without his permi ion; no one of them can succeed to the land of another without his a ent; and the legal theory even is that the movable property of the villein belongs to the lord. Yet it may confidently be laid down that, in the light of modern research, none of these disadvantages ant. While the churl sank to the state of villainage , the slave rose to it. E. A. Freeman , Norman Conquest, V. 322. villainizet (vil'an-iz), v. t. [Also villanize; villain + -ize .] To debase; degrade; defame; revile; calumniate. Were virtue by descent, a noble name Could never villanize his father's fame. Dryden, Wife of Bath's Tale, 1. 405. ties characteristic of a villain; extreme depravity; atrocious wickedne . Corsed worth cowarddyse & couetyse bot he! In yow is vylany & vyse, that vertue di tryez. Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight (E. E. T. S.), 1. 2375. Fear not the frowne of grim authority, Or stab of truth-abhorring villanie . Times' Whistle (E. E. T. S.), p. 2. 3t. Discourteous or abusive language; opprobrious terms. He nevere yet no vileinye ne sayde In al his lyf unto no maner wight. Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. Т., 1. 70. Therfore he wolde not that the i sholde speke eny euell of hym ne vilonye. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 643. 4. A villainous act; a crime. For, God it woot, men may wel often fynde A lordes sone do shame and vileynye . Chaucer, Wife of Bath's Tale, 1. 295. If I wer ther without I had the mor sadder or wurchepfull per sones abought me, and ther comyn a meny of knavys, and prevaylled in ther entent, it shuld be to me but a vylney. Paston Letters, II. 308. Cæsar's splendid villany achieved its most signal triumph. Macaulay , Machi a vell i. A private stage For training infant villanies . Browning , Str afford. 51. Disgraceful conduct; conduct unbecoming a gentleman. If we hennes hye Thus sodeynly, I holde it vilenye. Chaucer , Troilus, v. 490. A grav a in, brother, where be ye, now lete se what ye do, ffor I peyne me for these ladyes sake for curtesie, and ye peyne yow for theire vilonyes. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 530. =Syn. 2. Basene , turpitude, atrocity, infamy. See ne