Villain \Vil"lain\, n. [OE. vilein, F. vilain, LL. villanus,
from villa a village, L. villa a farm. See Villa.]
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1. (Feudal Law) One who holds lands by a base, or servile,
tenure, or in villenage; a feudal tenant of the lowest
class, a bondman or servant. [In this sense written also
villan, and villein.]
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If any of my ansectors was a tenant, and a servant,
and held his lands as a villain to his lord, his
posterity also must do so, though accidentally they
become noble. --Jer. Taylor.
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Note: Villains were of two sorts; villains regardant, that
is, annexed to the manor (LL. adscripti glebae); and
villains in gross, that is, annexed to the person of
their lord, and transferable from one to another.
--Blackstone.
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2. A baseborn or clownish person; a boor. [R.]
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Pour the blood of the villain in one basin, and the
blood of the gentleman in another, what difference
shall there be proved? --Becon.
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3. A vile, wicked person; a man extremely depraved, and
capable or guilty of great crimes; a deliberate scoundrel;
a knave; a rascal; a scamp.
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Like a villain with a smiling cheek. --Shak.
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Calm, thinking villains, whom no faith could fix.
--Pope.
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VILLEIN, Eng. law. A species of slave during the feudal times.'
2. The feudal villein of the lowest order was unprotected as to
property, and subjected to the post ignoble services; but his circumstances
were very different from the slave of the southern states, for no person
was, in the eye of the law, a villein, except as to his master; in relation
to all other persons he was a freeman. Litt. Ten. s. 189, 190; Hallam's View
of the Middle Ages, vol. i. 122, 124; vol. ii. 199.
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