Definition of "heriot" [her•i•ot]

• A tribute or service rendered to a feudal lord on the death of a tenant. (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.

• "Roffens.p. 33.] [******* On the death of an alderman, a greater or lesser thane, there was a payment made to the king of his best arms; and this was called his heriot; but this was not of the nature of a relief."
• "GODEFRIDUS-GOTRIC is credited with a third Saxon tribute, a heriot of"
• "The mantel is that of Woden when he bears the hero over seas; the cock is a bird of sorcery the world over; the black fowl is the proper gift to the Underground powers -- a heriot really, for did not the Culture god steal all the useful beasts out of the underground world for men's use?"