corvée

American  

[kawr-vey] / kɔrˈveɪ /

noun

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, bridges, etc., for little or no remuneration.

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corvée British  

/ ˈkɔːveɪ /

noun

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

2. the practice or an instance of forced labour

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Etymology

Origin of corvée

1300–50; Middle English < Middle French < Late Latin corrogāta contribution, collection, noun use of feminine of Latin corrogātus (past participle of corrogāre to collect by asking), equivalent to cor- cor- + rogā ( re ) to ask + -tus past participle suffix

Example Sentences

To do so, they resurrected corvée, a 19th-century Haitian law for indentured labor.

From New York Times • May 20, 2022

On Judah Jehoiakim imposed the cruel corvée, which in our day Ismail Pasha imposed upon Egypt.

From Jeremiah : Being The Baird Lecture for 1922 by Smith, George Adam, Sir

See Land: employed by the temples, 211 form of tenancy, 65, 253-256, 196, 197 Metrology, contributions to, 380 Micheau stone, 131 Militia, statute-labor, corvée.

From Babylonian and Assyrian Laws, Contracts and Letters by Johns, C. H. W. (Claude Hermann Walter)

One of these is the corvée system prevalent in the Middle Ages.

From A Critical Examination of Socialism by Mallock, W. H. (William Hurrell)

Mr. Burbidge secured one, a Grammatophyllum, ‘as big as a Pickford’s van,’ which a corvée of Dyaks could not lift.

From The Woodlands Orchids by Boyle, Frederick