noun
- a position or post granted to an ecclesiastic that guarantees a fixed amount of property or income.
- the revenue itself.
- the equivalent of a fief in the early Middle Ages.
verb (used with object), ben·e·ficed, ben·e·fic·ing.
- to invest with a benefice or ecclesiastical living.
noun
- Christianity an endowed Church office yielding an income to its holder; a Church living
- the property or revenue attached to such an office
- (in feudal society) a tenement (piece of land) held by a vassal from a landowner on easy terms or free, esp in return for military supportSee also vassalage
verb
- (tr) to provide with a benefice
c.1300, “a church living,” from Old French benefice (13c.) and directly from Latin beneficium “a favor, service, generosity, kindness, benefit,” from beneficus “generous, kind, benevolent, obliging,” from bene- (see bene-) + -ficus, from stem of -ficere, unstressed form of facere “to do, to make” (see factitious).