Adjacent Words

Fee definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

FEE, n. [L. pecu, pecus. From the use of cattle in transferring property, or from barter and payments in cattle, the word came to signify money; it signified also goods, substance in general. The word belongs to Class Bg, but the primary sense is not obvious.]
A reward or compensation for services; recompense, either gratuitous, or established by law and claimed of right. It is applied particularly to the reward of professional services; as the fees of lawyers and physicians; the fees of office; clerk's fees; sheriff's fees; marriage fees, etc. Many of these are fixed by law; but gratuities to professional men are also called fees.
FEE, n. [In English, is loan. This word, fee, inland, or an estate in trust, originated among the descendants of the northern conquerors of Italy, but it originated in the south of Europe. See Feud.]
Primarily, a loan of land, an estate in trust, granted by a prince or lord, to be held by the grantee on condition of personal service, or other condition; and if the grantee or tenant failed to perform the conditions, the land reverted to the lord or donor, called the landlord, or lend-lord, the lord of the loan. A fee then is any land or tenement held of a superior on certain conditions. It is synonymous with fief and feud. All the land in England, except the crown land, is of this kind. Fees are absolute or limited. An absolute fee or fee-simple is land which a man holds to himself and his heirs forever, who are called tenants in fee simple. Hence in modern times, the term fee or fee simple denotes an estate of inheritance; and in America, where lands are not generally held of a superior, a fee or fee simple is an estate in which the owner has the whole property without any condition annexed to the tenure. A limited fee is an estate limited or clogged with certain conditions; as a qualified or base fee, which ceases with the existence of certain conditions; and a conditional fee, which is limited to particular heirs.
In the United States, an estate in fee or fee simple is what is called in English law an allodial estate, an estate held by a person in his own right, and descendible to the heirs in general.
FEE'-FARM, n. [fee and farm.] A kind of tenure of estates without homage, fealty or other service, except that mentioned in the feoffment, which is usually the full rent. The nature of this tenure is, that if the rent is in arrear or unpaid for two years, the feoffer and his heirs may have an action for the recovery of the lands.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a fixed charge for a privilege or for professional services
2: an interest in land capable of being inherited v
1: give a tip or gratuity to in return for a service, beyond the compensation agreed on; "Remember to tip the waiter"; "fee the steward" [syn: tip, fee, bung]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French fé, fief, of Germanic origin; akin to Old English feoh cattle, property, Old High German fihu cattle; akin to Latin pecus cattle, pecunia money Date: 14th century 1. a. (1) an estate in land held in feudal law from a lord on condition of homage and service (2) a piece of land so held b. an inherited or heritable estate in land 2. a. a fixed charge b. a sum paid or charged for a service II. transitive verb (feed; feeing) Date: 15th century 1. chiefly Scottish hire 2. tip IX,2

Britannica Concise

In law, an inheritable freehold estate in real property (see real and personal property). The word derives from fief, as used in feudal law. Modern property law includes several varieties of fee, incl. fee simple (alienable and of indefinite duration), fee tail (granted to an individual and his or her descendants but subject to reversion if a tenant dies with no descendants), and life fee or life estate (held only during the lifetime of the grantee).

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 a payment made to a professional person or to a professional or public body in exchange for advice or services. 2 money paid as part of a special transaction, for a privilege, admission to a society, etc. (enrolment fee). 3 (in pl.) money regularly paid (esp. to a school) for continuing services. 4 Law an inherited estate, unlimited (fee simple) or limited (fee tail) as to the category of heir. 5 hist. a fief; a feudal benefice. --v.tr. (fee'd or feed) 1 pay a fee to. 2 engage for a fee. Etymology: ME f. AF, = OF feu, fieu, etc. f. med.L feodum, feudum, perh. f. Frank.: cf. FEUD(2), FIEF

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Fee Fee (f[=e]), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Feed (f[=e]d); p. pr. & vb. n. Feeing.] To reward for services performed, or to be performed; to recompense; to hire or keep in hire; hence, to bribe. The patient . . . fees the doctor. --Dryden. There's not a one of them but in his house I keep a servant feed. --Shak.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Fee Fee (f[=e]), n. [OE. fe, feh, feoh, cattle, property, money, fief, AS. feoh cattle, property, money; the senses of ``property, money,'' arising from cattle being used in early times as a medium of exchange or payment, property chiefly consisting of cattle; akin to OS. fehu cattle, property, D. vee cattle, OHG. fihu, fehu, G. vieh, Icel. f[=e] cattle, property, money, Goth. fa['i]hu, L. pecus cattle, pecunia property, money, Skr. pa[,c]u cattle, perh. orig., ``a fastened or tethered animal,'' from a root signifying to bind, and perh. akin to E. fang, fair, a.; cf. OF. fie, flu, feu, fleu, fief, F. fief, from German, of the same origin. the sense fief is due to the French. [root]249. Cf. Feud, Fief, Fellow, Pecuniary.] 1. property; possession; tenure. ``Laden with rich fee.'' --Spenser. Once did she hold the gorgeous East in fee. --Wordsworth. 2. Reward or compensation for services rendered or to be rendered; especially, payment for professional services, of optional amount, or fixed by custom or laws; charge; pay; perquisite; as, the fees of lawyers and physicians; the fees of office; clerk's fees; sheriff's fees; marriage fees, etc. To plead for love deserves more fee than hate. --Shak. 3. (Feud. Law) A right to the use of a superior's land, as a stipend for services to be performed; also, the land so held; a fief. 4. (Eng. Law) An estate of inheritance supposed to be held either mediately or immediately from the sovereign, and absolutely vested in the owner. Note: All the land in England, except the crown land, is of this kind. An absolute fee, or fee simple, is land which a man holds to himself and his heirs forever, who are called tenants in fee simple. In modern writers, by fee is usually meant fee simple. A limited fee may be a qualified or base fee, which ceases with the existence of certain conditions; or a conditional fee, or fee tail, which is limited to particular heirs. --Blackstone. 5. (Amer. Law) An estate of inheritance belonging to the owner, and transmissible to his heirs, absolutely and simply, without condition attached to the tenure. Fee estate (Eng. Law), land or tenements held in fee in consideration or some acknowledgment or service rendered to the lord. Fee farm (Law), land held of another in fee, in consideration of an annual rent, without homage, fealty, or any other service than that mentioned in the feoffment; an estate in fee simple, subject to a perpetual rent. --Blackstone. Fee farm rent (Eng. Law), a perpetual rent reserved upon a conveyance in fee simple. Fee fund (Scot. Law), certain court dues out of which the clerks and other court officers are paid. Fee simple (Law), an absolute fee; a fee without conditions or limits. Buy the fee simple of my life for an hour and a quarter. --Shak. Fee tail (Law), an estate of inheritance, limited and restrained to some particular heirs. --Burill.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(fees) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. A fee is a sum of money that you pay to be allowed to do something. He hadn't paid his television licence fee. N-COUNT 2. A fee is the amount of money that a person or organization is paid for a particular job or service that they provide. Find out how much your surveyor's and solicitor's fees will be. N-COUNT

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. 1. Pay (for professional service), compensation, remuneration. 2. Feud, fief, fee-simple, absolute title or posession, unconditional tenure. II. v. a. Pay, reward, recompense, give a fee to.

Moby Thesaurus

Trinkgeld, account, admission, admission fee, allowance, anchorage, assessment, bill, blackmail, blood money, bonus, bounty, bribe, brokerage, carfare, cellarage, charge, charges, compensate, consideration, copyhold, cost, cover charge, demand, dockage, donative, double time, dues, emolument, entrance fee, equitable estate, estate at sufferance, estate for life, estate for years, estate in expectancy, estate in fee, estate in possession, estate tail, exaction, exactment, expense, fare, fee simple, fee tail, feod, feodum, feud, feudal estate, fief, footing, gratuity, gravy, grease, guerdon, hire, honorarium, hush money, incentive pay, indemnify, inducement, initiation fee, lagniappe, largess, lease, leasehold, legal estate, liberality, license fee, mileage, palm oil, paramount estate, particular estate, pay, pay by installments, pay on, perks, perquisite, pilotage, portage, pourboire, premium, prepay, price, reckoning, recompense, remainder, remit, remunerate, render, retainer, retaining fee, reversion, reward, salary, salvage, salve, satisfy, scot, scot and lot, shot, something extra, sportula, stipend, storage, sweetener, tender, tip, toll, towage, tribute, vested estate, wharfage