fealty

<font size="-1" face="arial, helvetica"> <p> <strong> <font color="#000066">Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 15, 2021 is:</font> </strong> </p> <p> <strong>fealty</strong> &#149; \FEE-ul-tee\&nbsp; &#149; <em>noun</em><br /> <p><strong>1 a :</strong> the fidelity of a vassal or feudal tenant to his lord</p> <p><strong>b :</strong> the obligation of such fidelity </p> <p><strong>2 :</strong> intense fidelity</p> </p> <p> <strong>Examples:</strong><br /> <p>"Ordinary English soccer fans dispatched the Super League with a populist <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/putsch">putsch</a> even before it had scheduled its first game. Those fans went into the streets, demonstrating loudly and insisting they would abandon teams to which they had professed lifelong <em>fealty</em>." — <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/04/22/metro/supreme-lesson/">Kevin Cullen, <em>The Boston Globe</em>, 22 Apr. 2021</a></p> <p>"Bathed in a laid-back marinade and wrapped in a cloak of smoke, the Niman Ranch Prime skirt steaks are cooked meticulously medium-rare, in the house style—a small miracle in itself, and one of the reasons for my <em>fealty</em>. — <a href="https://preview.houstonchronicle.com/dining/alison-cook-a-visit-to-candente-for-nachos-16150620">Alison Cook, <em>The Houston Chronicle</em>, 5 May 2021</a></p> </p> <p> <strong>Did you know?</strong><br /> <p>In <em>The Use of Law</em>, published posthumously in 1629, Francis Bacon wrote, "Fealty is to take an oath upon a book, that he will be a faithful Tenant to the King." That's a pretty accurate summary of the early meaning of <em>fealty</em>. Early forms of the term were used in Middle English around 1300, when they specifically designated the loyalty of a vassal to a lord. Eventually, the meaning of the word broadened. Fealty can be paid to a country, a principle, or a leader of any kind—though the synonyms <em>fidelity</em> and <em>loyalty</em> are more commonly used. <em>Feal