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Definition of "socage" [soc•age]

  • Feudal tenure of land by a tenant in return for agricultural or other nonmilitary services or for payment of rent in money. (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.

Use "socage" in a sentence
  • "A minor might, however, inherit land held by what was known as socage tenure, which according to Sir William Blackstone"
  • "But this does not hold good where the King is the lord of the common pasture, and several persons holding of him in socage have common, because in that case anyone having common may avow a good distress."
  • "It is curious that while in England the burgage-tenure was deemed a species of socage, to distinguish it from the military holdings, in Scotland it was strictly a military holding, by the service of watching and warding for the defence of the burgh."