Fee word meaning and definition

[noun] an interest in land capable of being inherited
[noun] a fixed charge for a privilege or for professional services
[verb] engage by written agreement; "They signed two new pitchers for the next season"

\Fee\ (f[=e]), n. [OE. fe, feh, feoh, cattle, property, money, fief, AS. feoh cattle, property, money; the senses of ``property, money,'' arising from cattle being used in early times as a medium of exchange or payment, property chiefly consisting of cattle; akin to OS. fehu cattle, property, D. vee cattle, OHG. fihu, fehu, G. vieh, Icel. f[=e] cattle, property, money, Goth. fa['i]hu, L. pecus cattle, pecunia property, money, Skr. pa[,c]u cattle, perh. orig., ``a fastened or tethered animal,'' from a root signifying to bind, and perh. akin to E. fang, fair, a.; cf. OF. fie, flu, feu, fleu, fief, F. fief, from German, of the same origin. the sense fief is due to the French. [root]249. Cf. {Feud}, {Fief}, {Fellow}, {Pecuniary}.] 1. property; possession; tenure. ``Laden with rich fee.'' --Spenser. Once did she hold the gorgeous East in fee. --Wordsworth. 2. Reward or compensation for services rendered or to be rendered; especially, payment for professional services, of optional amount, or fixed by custom or laws; charge; pay; perquisite; as, the fees of lawyers and physicians; the fees of office; clerk's fees; sheriff's fees; marriage fees, etc. To plead for love deserves more fee than hate. --Shak. 3. (Feud. Law) A right to the use of a superior's land, as a stipend for services to be performed; also, the land so held; a fief. 4. (Eng. Law) An estate of inheritance supposed to be held either mediately or immediately from the sovereign, and absolutely vested in the owner. Note: All the land in England, except the crown land, is of this kind. An absolute fee, or fee simple, is land which a man holds to himself and his heirs forever, who are called tenants in fee simple. In modern writers, by fee is usually meant fee simple. A limited fee may be a qualified or base fee, which ceases with the existence of certain conditions; or a conditional fee, or fee tail, which is limited to particular heirs. --Blackstone. 5. (Amer. Law) An estate of inheritance belonging to the owner, and transmissible to his heirs, absolutely and simply, without condition attached to the tenure. {Fee estate} (Eng. Law), land or tenements held in fee in consideration or some acknowledgment or service rendered to the lord. {Fee farm} (Law), land held of another in fee, in consideration of an annual rent, without homage, fealty, or any other service than that mentioned in the feoffment; an estate in fee simple, subject to a perpetual rent. --Blackstone. {Fee farm rent} (Eng. Law), a perpetual rent reserved upon a conveyance in fee simple. {Fee fund} (Scot. Law), certain court dues out of which the clerks and other court officers are paid. {Fee simple} (Law), an absolute fee; a fee without conditions or limits. Buy the fee simple of my life for an hour and a quarter. --Shak. {Fee tail} (Law), an estate of inheritance, limited and restrained to some particular heirs. --Burill.
\Fee\ (f[=e]), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Feed} (f[=e]d); p. pr. & vb. n. {Feeing}.] To reward for services performed, or to be performed; to recompense; to hire or keep in hire; hence, to bribe. The patient . . . fees the doctor. --Dryden. There's not a one of them but in his house I keep a servant feed. --Shak.

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