Definition of "seigneur" [seigneur]

• A man of rank, especially a feudal lord in the ancien régime. (noun)
• In Canada, a man who owned a large estate originally held by a feudal grant from the king of France. (noun)
• Used as a form of address for such a man. (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.

• "The term seigneur is still used but is now a mere honorary title."
• "Bodin adopted the term seigneur as the equivalent of despótēs for one of his three varieties of government in the French version of the Six livres de la République"
• "The habitants of New France respected the horny-handed man in homespun whom they called their seigneur: the depth of this loyalty and respect could not fairly be measured by old-world standards."