droit du seigneur

[ French drwa dy se-nyœr ]

noun

1. the supposed right claimable by a feudal lord to have sexual relations with the bride of a vassal on her first night of marriage.

droit du seigneur

/ drwa dy sɛɲœr /

noun

1. in feudal times, the right of a lord to have sexual intercourse with a vassal's bride on her wedding night

Word History and Origins

Origin of droit du seigneur¹

1815–25; < French: literally, right of the lord

Word History and Origins

Origin of droit du seigneur¹

from French, literally: the right of the lord

Example Sentences

No matter how much the chief justice and court spokesperson strain to convince us how cordial and respectful the justice family really is, and that there’s “nothing to see here” — there is the picture we can see in our minds of a preening, smug and self-righteous Justice Gorsuch, in his very best “droit du seigneur” mode, sitting maskless next to an empty chair belonging to his colleague Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who, as he well knows, is over 65 and immunocompromised.

From Washington Post

Andrew Cuomo couldn’t get a handle on his ego or stop indulging in Albany droit du seigneur.

From New York Times

So I could not have been more thrilled when #MeToo ripped away the curtain on the murky transgressions and diminishments that women had endured in the droit du seigneur era.

From New York Times

And it is amazing that, after two centuries of men treating the political landscape here as a droit du seigneur playground, that the one ensnared in an ethics investigation about the new rules enacted last year on sexual harassment — barring lawmakers from having sexual relationships with staffers — is a woman.

From New York Times

When he hears about Gilgamesh’s exercise of the droit du seigneur, he becomes enraged.

From The New Yorker