fee

Definition of fee

13 senses · 3 parts of speech · etymology included

noun

An amount charged for a privilege.

“late fee”
“license fee”
“admission fee”
“activation fee”
“service fee”

See all 13 definitions

noun

An amount charged for a privilege.

“late fee”
“license fee”
“admission fee”
“activation fee”
“service fee”
An amount charged for professional services.

“legal fees”
“consulting fees”
“Imagine a country where children do nothing but play until they start compulsory schooling at age seven. Then, without exception, they attend comprehensives until the age of 16. Charging school fees is illegal, and so is sorting pupils into ability groups by streaming or setting.”
An additional monetary payment charged for a service or good, especially one that is minor compared to the underlying cost.
An inheritable estate in land, whether absolute and without limitation to potential heirs (fee simple) or with limitations to particular kinds of heirs (fee tail).
(historical)A right to the use of a superior's land as a stipend for certain services to be performed, typically military service.
(historical)Synonym of fief: the land so held.
(historical)An inheritable estate in land held of a feudal lord on condition of performance of certain services, typically military service.
(figuratively, obsolete)Synonym of possession.

“Once did she hold the gorgeous East in fee;”
“What doth the poor man's son inherit? / Stout muscles and a sinewy heart, / A hardy frame, a hardier spirit; / King of two hands, he does his part / In every useful toil and art; / A heritage, it seems to me, / A king might wish to hold in fee.”
“Cronshaw had told him that the facts of life mattered nothing to him who by the power of fancy held in fee the twin realms of space and time.”
(obsolete)Money paid or bestowed; payment; emolument.
(obsolete)A prize or reward. Only used in the set phrase "A finder's fee" in Modern English.

“For though sweet love to conquer glorious bee, / Yet is the paine thereof much greater than the fee.”

verb

To reward for services performed, or to be performed; to recompense; to hire or keep in hire; hence, to bribe.

“In vain for Hellebore the patient cries / And fees the doctor; but too late is wise”
“There's not a one of them but in his house I keep a servant feed.”
“We departed the grounds without seeing Marbonna; and previous to vaulting over the picket, feed our pretty guide, after a fashion of our own.”
“It was at a much earlier hour than that which Mrs. Santon had named, that Delwood presented himself, and handsomely feeing the porter who answered his summons, he asked to see Miss Santon […]”

name

A surname.
A diminutive of the female given name Fiona.

“Then turning to Fiona, she said, “Fee, I'll only be a minute. […]”

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

From Middle English fee, fe, feh, feoh, from Old English feoh (“cattle, property, wealth, money, payment, tribute, fee”) with contamination from Old French fieu, fief (from Medieval Latin fevum, a…

See full etymology

From Middle English fee, fe, feh, feoh, from Old English feoh (“cattle, property, wealth, money, payment, tribute, fee”) with contamination from Old French fieu, fief (from Medieval Latin fevum, a variant of feudum (see feud), from Frankish *fehu (“cattle, livestock”); whence fief), both from Proto-Germanic *fehu (“cattle, sheep, livestock, owndom”), from Proto-Indo-European *péḱu (“livestock”). Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian Fäi (“cattle, livestock”), West Frisian fee (“livestock”), Cimbrian biighe, viighe (“animal, beast”), Dutch vee (“cattle, livestock”), German Viech (“animal, beast”), Vieh (“livestock”), German Low German Veeh (“cattle, livestock, property”), Luxembourgish Véi (“cattle”), Vilamovian fi, fī, fii, fiih (“cattle, livestock”), Yiddish פֿי (fi), פֿיך (fikh, “cattle, livestock”), Danish and Faroese fæ (“cattle, livestock”), Icelandic fé (“assets, livestock, money”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk fe (“cattle, livestock”), Swedish fä (“beast, cattle, dolt”), Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐌹𐌷𐍉 (faihō), 𐍆𐌰𐌹𐌷𐌿 (faihu, “possessions, property; riches, wealth; money”); also Latin pecū (“cattle”), Old Prussian pecku (“cattle”), Armenian ասր (asr, “fleece, wool”), Avestan 𐬞𐬀𐬯𐬎 (pasu, “livestock”), Bactrian ποσο (poso, “sheep”), Central Kurdish پەز (pez, “sheep”), Northern Kurdish pez (“sheep”), Ossetian фыс (fys, “sheep”), Talysh pəs, пәс (“sheep”), Sanskrit पशु (paśu, “cattle”).

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