Standard Lemma guide

escuage

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Payment to a lord in lieu of military service.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Middle-Ages, countable, historical, uncountable

Examples

  • 1829, George Crabb, History of English Law, 1831 American Edition, page 374, When the escuage which was to be paid was uncertain, being more or less according to the pleasure of the king or the assessment of parliament ; then the tenure by escuage was a sort of knight′s service.
  • 1866, Land Tax, entry in William Thomas Brande, George William Cox (editors), A Dictionary of Science, Literature, & Art, Volume 2, page 308, These escuages were virtually a very heavy land tax [...]

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English scuage, from Old French escuage; in Modern English, remodelled on the Old French etymon.