avera
- noun
- Archaic
- Many peasants resented the avera they had to provide as a portion of their annual labor.
Examples
-
He was transferred to the Department of Pediatrics at Avera Sacred Heart Hospital in Yankton, S.D.
Academic text (2003) -
The tenant performed his avera by working in the lord's fields each season.
-
In medieval times, tenants were obligated to complete an avera for their feudal lords.
Synonyms
Work a tenant had to do for a landowner under feudal rule
Unpaid work that people must do for the government or a landowner, often to build roads and bridges
Surface Forms
Etymology
Avera was used in medieval England to mean the 'work' or service a tenant had to do for their lord. A helpful way to remember it is to think of it like the root of operate and operation, from Latin opera 'work', so avera is the required 'work' owed to the manor.