| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| corvée |
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| SYLLABICATION: | cor·vée |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  kôr-v  , kôrv |
| NOUN: | 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. | | ETYMOLOGY: | French corvée and Middle English corve, both from Old French corovee, from Medieval Latin (opera) corrogta, (work) requested, neuter pl. of Latin corrogtus, past participle of corrogre, to summon together : com-, com- + rogre, to ask; see reg- in Appendix I.
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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