Yeoman Definition British English

A yeoman was usually a landholder but could also be a retainer guard attendant or subordinate official.

Yeoman definition british english. The yeoman in the canon s yeoman s tale is a servant to a cleric once finely dressed but now impoverished in the general prologue the knight is accompanied served by a yeoman who knew the forest just as he knew his home this was a hunter indeed. For cold weather wear there was a navy blue cape. Yeoman definition is an attendant or officer in a royal or noble household. In former times a yeoman was a man who was free and not a servant and who owned and.

How to use yeoman in a sentence. Download our english dictionary apps available for both ios and android. In the past a man who was not a servant and who owned and cultivated grew crops on an area. Meaning pronunciation translations and examples.

Yeoman in british english ˈjəʊmən. In the past a man who was not a servant and who owned and cultivated grew crops on an area. Geoffrey chaucer s canterbury tales contains content on the yeoman s social standing in the late 14th century. The early republican ideal of the yeoman farmer was giving way to the virtues of urban capitalism and concern for or fear of the urban masses 1 1 a person qualified for certain duties and rights such as to serve on juries and vote for the knight of the shire by virtue of possessing free land of an annual value of 40 shillings.

The word appears in middle english as yemen or yoman and is perhaps a contraction of yeng man or yong man meaning young man or attendant geoffrey chaucer s canterbury tales late 14th century.