Allegiance

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: al=le=giance

CIDE DICTIONARY

Allegiance, n. [OE. alegeaunce; pref. a- + OF. lige, liege. The meaning was influenced by L. ligare to bind, and even by lex, legis, law. See Liege, Ligeance.].

•  The tie or obligation, implied or expressed, which a subject owes to his sovereign or government; the duty of fidelity to one's king, government, or state.  [1913 Webster]
•  Devotion; loyalty; as, allegiance to science.  [1913 Webster]

  "Hear me, recreant, on thine allegiance hear me!"  [1913 Webster]

  "So spake the Seraph Abdiel, faithful found, . . .
  Unshaken, unseduced, unterrified,
  His loyalty he kept, his love, his zeal."  [1913 Webster]

Syn. -- Loyalty; fealty.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Allegiance, n.
1 loyalty (to a person or cause etc.).
2 the duty of a subject to his or her sovereign or government.

Etymology

ME f. AF f. OF ligeance (as LIEGE): perh. assoc. with ALLIANCE

DEVIL DICTIONARY

Allegiance

n.

This thing Allegiance, as I suppose,
Is a ring fitted in the subject's nose,
Whereby that organ is kept rightly pointed
To smell the sweetness of the Lord's anointed.
G.J.

THESAURUS

Allegiance

acquiescence, adherence, adhesion, assigned task, attachment, bona fides, bond, bonne foi, bounden duty, burden, business, call of duty, charge, commitment, compliance, conformity, consecration, constancy, dedication, deference, devoir, devotedness, devotion, duteousness, duties and responsibilities, dutifulness, duty, ethics, faith, faithfulness, fealty, fidelity, firmness, good faith, homage, honor, imperative, line of duty, loyalty, mission, must, obedience, obediency, obligation, observance, onus, ought, piety, place, respect, self-imposed duty, service, servility, servitium, staunchness, steadfastness, submission, submissiveness, suit and service, suit service, tie, troth, true blue, trueness, willingness

ROGET THESAURUS

Allegiance

Obedience

N obedience, observance, compliance, submission, subjection, nonresistance, passiveness, resignation, allegiance, loyalty, fealty, homage, deference, devotion, constancy, fidelity, submissness, submissiveness, ductility, obsequiousness, obedient, complying, compliant, loyal, faithful, devoted, at one's call, at one's command, at one's orders, at one's beck and call, under beck and call, under control, restrainable, resigned, passive, submissive, henpecked, pliant, unresisted, obediently, in compliance with, in obedience to, to hear is to obey, as you please, if you please, your wish is my command, as you wish, no sooner said than done.

Duty

N duty, what ought to be done, moral obligation, accountableness, liability, onus, responsibility, bounden duty, imperative duty, call, call of duty, accountability, allegiance, fealty, tie engagement, part, function, calling, morality, morals, decalogue, case of conscience, conscientiousness, conscience, inward monitor, still small voice within, sense of duty, tender conscience, superego, the hell within, dueness, propriety, fitness, seemliness, amenability, decorum, to prepon, the thing, the proper thing, the right thing to do, the proper thing to do, ethics, ethology, deontology, aretology, moral philosophy, ethical philosophy, casuistry, polity, observance, fulfillment, discharge, performance, acquittal, satisfaction, redemption, good behavior, obligatory, binding, imperative, peremptory, stringent, behooving, incumbent on, chargeable on, under obligation, obliged by, bound by, tied by, saddled with, due to, beholden to, bound to, indebted to, tied down, compromised, in duty bound, amenable, liable, accountable, responsible, answerable, right, meet, moral, ethical, casuistical, conscientious, ethological, with a safe conscience, as in duty, bound, on one's own responsibility, at one's own risk, suo periculo, in foro conscientiae, quamdiu se bene gesserit, dura lex sed lex, dulce et decorum est pro patria mori, honos habet onus, leve fit quod bene fertur onus, loyaute m'oblige, simple duty bath no place for fear, stern daughter of the voice of God, there is a higher law than the Constitution.