corvée

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cor·vée

(kôr-vā′, kôr′vā′)

1. Labor exacted by a local authority for little or no pay or instead of taxes and used especially in the maintenance of roads.

2. A day of unpaid work required of a vassal by a feudal lord.

[French corvée and Middle English corve, both from Old French corovee, from Medieval Latin (opera) corrogāta, (work) requested, neuter pl. of Latin corrogātus, past participle of corrogāre, to summon together : com-, com- + rogāre, to ask; see reg- in Indo-European roots.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

corvée

(ˈkɔːveɪ)

1. (Historical Terms) European history a day's unpaid labour owed by a feudal vassal to his lord

2. (Historical Terms) the practice or an instance of forced labour

[C14: from Old French, from Late Latin corrogāta contribution, from Latin corrogāre to collect, from rogāre to ask]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

cor•vée

(kɔrˈveɪ)

n.

1. unpaid labor for one day, as on the repair of roads, exacted by a feudal lord.

2. an obligation imposed on inhabitants of a district to perform services, as repair of roads, for little or no pay.

[1300–50; Middle English < Middle French < Late Latin corrogāta contribution, collection, n. use of feminine of Latin corrogātus, past participle of corrogāre to collect by asking]

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Noun

corvee - unpaid labor (as for the maintenance of roads) required by a lord of his vassals in lieu of taxes

toil, labor, labour - productive work (especially physical work done for wages); "his labor did not require a great deal of skill"

Translations

αγγαρεία

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References in periodicals archive ?

Swiddeners were themselves dispersed, hard to monitor, hard to collect for corvee labor or conscription.

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(31) While waiting to verify the authenticity of papers, guards could detain Asian men in prison to perform corvee labor before they were either reclaimed or recontracted.

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Unless exempt from taxation by holding certain official rank or other status, each man was subjected to an annual head tax of two shi of grain (about 160 kilograms) and two zhang tot' silk (about six meters), plus twenty days of unpaid corvee labor. (16) On top of this tax burden, there was the much-dreaded military service that had driven men into self-mutilation to dodge.

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In an age of spreading liberalism, they both appeared to go against the tide in terms of labor relations: with corvee labor in Java, and slave and indentured labor in Cuba until the late-nineteenth century.

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It was either the knowledge of performing the holy task of building the Temple, or the iron hand of Solomon, that held disaffection with the unwanted burden of corvee labor in check.

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Living within the state meant, virtually by definition, taxes, conscription, corvee labor, and, for most, a condition of servitude; these conditions were at the core of the state's strategic and military advantages.

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Poor villagers in rural regions must provide corvee labor on demand as a tax imposed by authorities.