paravail

English

Etymology

From Old French par aval (“below”), from par (“through”) (Latin per) + aval (“down”), from a- (Latin ad) + val (“a valley”) (Latin vallis). Compare paramount.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -eɪl

Adjective

paravail (not comparable)

1. At the bottom; lowest (said of feudal tenants).
   • 1882, James Charles Blomfield, History of the Deanery of Bicester: History of the present deanery of Bicester, Oxon, page 59:

     Of the estate adjoining Cottesford the paravail tenants were members of the family who took their name from that village, and were resident in it, de Cotfelde or […]

   • 1929, Radhabinod Pal, The History of the Law of Primogeniture: With Special Reference to India, Ancient and Modern:

     The inferior, or paravail tenants, held their lands from the barons, and the barons, or mesne lords, were the grantees of the king […]

Further reading

• “paravail”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.