Definition of "allegiance" []

• Loyalty or the obligation of loyalty, as to a nation, sovereign, or cause. See Synonyms at fidelity. (noun)
• The obligations of a vassal to a lord. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "[Sidenote: The Commons strictly confine their ideas of a revolution to necessity alone and self-defence.] [Sidenote A: N.B. The remark implies, that allegiance would be insecure without this restriction.] "Your Lordships were acquainted, in opening the charge, with how _great caution_, and with what unfeigned regard to her Majesty and her government, and to the _duty and allegiance_ of her subjects, the"
• "The politician, small or lofty, who menaces the people with frequent reminders of the possibility of crime, violence, or terrorism, and who then uses their magnified fear to gain allegiance is more likely to be a successful con artist than a legitimate leader."
• "It came to her very certainly that her father had realized he had not strength to make what he called his allegiance to God, and that at the last he had sought the momentary strength of the whisky that he knew would shatter his glass heart."