DCHP-1 Online
corvée † [< F] Hist. 
1 n. in French Canada, the obligation of a tenant to perform a certain amount of manual labor for the seigneur as one of the conditions of holding land, usually involving the repair of roads and bridges or the supplying of building stone and wood.
- 1791 (1905) The board called on Trudelle to state his Services and Loyalty, who says, he has always done the directed Corviés &c., in common and with as much Chearfulness as others in the Company.
- 1832 Secondly, certain feudal and degrading services, such as . . . performing days of ignoble servitude . . . called corvee days, on the Seignior's farm or domain, as it is usually called.
- 1960 The corvée of so many days' compulsory, unpaid labor for the seigneur, was a more burdensome exaction.
2 n. a body of men doing unpaid work on roads and bridges, usually in lieu of paying taxes.
- 1815 The remainder of the way to Lake Timiscouata has been much improved by corvée of several hundreds of militiamen.
- 1791 (1905) The board called on Trudelle to state his Services and Loyalty, who says, he has always done the directed Corviés &c., in common and with as much Chearfulness as others in the Company.