neife
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English[edit]
Noun[edit]
neife (plural neifes)
- (historical) Alternative form of neif
- 1771, William, Sir Blackstone, “Of the Modern English Tenures”, in Commentaries on the Laws of England[1], volume 2, pages 93–94:
- For the children of villeins were also in the same state of bondage with their parents; whence they were called in Latin, nativi, which gave rise to the female appellation of a villein, who was called a neife. [...] Neifes indeed had also an appeal of rape, in case the lord violated them by force.