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642 results for: Manor

Dictionary Entries (6 more entries. View all »)
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source
man·or    Audio Help   [man-er] Pronunciation Key
–noun
1.(in England) a landed estate or territorial unit, originally of the nature of a feudal lordship, consisting of a lord's demesne and of lands within which he has the right to exercise certain privileges, exact certain fees, etc.
2.any similar territorial unit in medieval Europe, as a feudal estate.
3.the mansion of a lord with the land belonging to it.
4.the main house or mansion on an estate, plantation, etc.
[Origin: 1250–1300; ME maner < OF manoir, n. use of manoir to remain, dwell < L manére to remain; see mansion]

—Related forms
ma·no·ri·al    Audio Help   [muh-nawr-ee-uhl, -nohr-] Pronunciation Key, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopedia Articles (634 more entries. View all »)
Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia - Cite This Source

manor house, dwelling house of the feudal lord of a manor, occupied by him only on occasional visits if he held many manors. Although not built specifically for fortification as castles were, many manor houses were partly fortified; they were enclosed within walls or moats that sometimes included the farm buildings as well. The primary feature of the manor house was its great hall, to which subsidiary apartments were added as the lessening of feudal warfare permitted peaceful domestic life. By the beginning of the 16th cent., manor houses as well as smaller castles began to acquire the character and amenities of the residences of country gentlemen. This transformation produced the smaller Renaissance châteaux of France and the numerous country mansions of the Elizabethan and Jacobean styles in England.

See M. Holmes, ed., The Country House Described: An Index to the Country Houses of Great Britain and Ireland (1986).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2004, Columbia University Press.
Licensed from Columbia University Press


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