allegeance

See also: allégeance

English

Alternative forms

• allegeaunce (obsolete)

Etymology 1

From Middle English allegeaunce, alleggeaunce, from Old French alegeance.

Noun

allegeance (plural allegeances)

1. (obsolete) Alleviation, relief.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     What bootes it him from death to be vnbound, / To be captiued in endlesse duraunce / Of sorrow and despaire without aleggeaunce?

Etymology 2

See allegiance.

Noun

allegeance (countable and uncountable, plural allegeances)

1. Obsolete spelling of allegiance.

Middle French

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

allegeance f (plural allegeances)

1. hommage

References

• allegeance on Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330–1500) (in French)