v. Forms: 3 feoffen, 3–7 feff, 6–7 feoffe, (feofe, feoffee), 4–7 feoff, (9 dial. feft). Pa. t. and pa. pple. feoffed; also 5–6 feft(e, 7 feoft. See also FIEF v. [Early ME. feoffen, ad. AF. feoffer, OF. fieuffer, fieffer, f. fieu, fief: see FEE sb.2, FIEF sb.]
1. Law. trans. To put in legal possession (properly confined to freehold interests in corporeal hereditaments; formerly sometimes inaccurately used of leasehold); = ENFEOFF v. 1. ? Obs.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., I. 463/33. To feoffen heore children þare-wiz echon.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 7585.
| & men of religion · of Normandie al-so | |
| He feffede here mid londes · mid rentes al-so. |
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 35.
| Þe abbey of Rumeye he feffed richely, | |
| With rentes fulle gode & kirkes of pris. |
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, Justina, 648.
| Þe bischope gert þane a nunry make | |
| & feffit for Justinis sake. |
c. 1386. Chaucer, Merch. T., 454.
| If I yow tolde every script and bond, | |
| By which that sche was feoffed in his lond. |
1415. E. E. Wills (1882), 24. Goud estat of the londes rentes that ȝe bun feoffed In.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., V. x. 347.
| He fefte þe kyrk on mony wys | |
| Wytht gret and fayre and fre Franchys. |
c. 1430. How Wise Man tauȝt Son, 96, in Babees Bk. (1868), 51.
| For ritchesse take hir neuere þe more | |
| Þouȝ sche wolde þee boþe feffe & ceese. |
1520. Caxton’s Chron. Eng., v. 49 b/2. Whan Arthur had thus his knyghtes feoffed.
1573. Tusser, Husb., cxiii. (1878), 213.
| That Gentrie standes, not all by landes, | |
| Nor all so feft. |
1620. Bp. Hall, The Honor of the Married Clergie, II. § 8. Anastasius a married Presbyter, feoffed in some Temporalties which hee would rather die then not leaue to his issue.
b. To feoff (one person) to the use of (another): to invest with the legal estate, subject to an obligation to allow the use to (the other person).
Until 1535 this proceeding was very commonly resorted to to evade the burdens incident to ownership of land. The Statute of Uses passed in that year provided that in all cases of feoffment to uses the cestui que use should have the legal estate.
1491. Act 7 Hen. VII., c. 20 § 7. Persones feoffed or seased to thuse of theym.
† c. fig. Obs.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. (1810), 239. Men gyf God þe lest, þe feffe him with a ferþing.
c. 1350. Will. Palerne, 193. Til alle his felawes were ferst feffed to here paie.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Boeth., II. iii. 38. Þo feffedest þou fortune wiþ glosynge wordes.
c. 1450. Crt. of Love, 932.
| Nay, God forbid to feffe you so with grace, | |
| And for a word of sugared eloquence, | |
| To have compassion in so little space! |
c. 1460. Towneley Myst. (Surtees), 115. Ye two are welle feft, sam in a stede.
a. 1656. Bp. Hall, Rem., Wks. (1660), 154. That we may thereby approve our selves the sons and daughters of God, and may be feoffed in that blessed inheritance which he hath laid up for all his.
d. † In wider sense: To present (a person) with anything (obs.). Also dial. (see quot. 1855).
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. II. 146. And feffe false-witnes with floreines ynowe.
c. 1450. Merlin, 374. The kynge hym feffed with his right glove.
1855. Robinson, Whitby Gloss., Fefted, legally secured with a maintenance. ‘He fefted his wife on so much a year.’
† 2. To confer (a heritable possession) upon. Chiefly fig. Obs.
1571. Golding, Calvin on Ps. lxxiii. 7. God feoffeth abundance of all good thinges upon them.
1592. Warner, Alb. Eng., VII. xxxv. (1612), 169.
| Those stiles | |
| To him were strange, but thay | |
| Did feofe them on the base-borne Muffe, | |
| And him as king obay. |
1612–5. Bp. Hall, Contempl., O. T., X. vi. He makes his son his priest, and feoffees that sinne upon his sonne which he received from his mother. Ibid. (1649), Cases Consc., III. i. (1654), 169. Feoffing a supernaturall vertue upon drugges.
