fee (f?)n.1. A fixed sum charged, as by an institution or by law, for a privilege: a license fee; tuition fees.2. A charge for professional services: a surgeon’s fee.3. A tip; a gratuity.4. Law See fee simple.5. a. In feudal law, an estate in land granted by a lord to his vassal on condition of homage and service. Also called feud2, fief.b. The land so held.tr.v. feed, fee·ing, fees 1. To give a tip to.2. Scots To hire.[Middle English fe, from Old English feoh, cattle, goods, money, and from Anglo-Norman fee, fief (from Old French fie, fief, of Germanic origin; akin to Old English feoh); see peku- in Indo-European roots.]Word History: Fee comes from Old English feoh, which has three meanings: “cattle, livestock,” “goods, possessions, movable property,” and “money.” The Germanic form behind the Old English is *fehu-, which derives by Grimm’s Law from Indo-European *peku-, “movable wealth, cattle.” In the ancient societies of Europe and Asia that spoke Indo-European languages, the wealth of a person or group was often measured by the size of their herds?just as it is in many traditional pastoral societies today. So it is natural that a word meaning “cattle” and “movable wealth” could also mean “money,” as ancient economies developed and standard coinage of gold and silver was introduced. The same development from “livestock” to “money” can also be observed in the family of Latin words derived from pecu, “cattle,” the direct Latin descendant of Indo-European *peku- and cognate of English fee. In Latin, many words relating to money and finance were derived from pecu, and several of these derivatives were ultimately borrowed into English, for example, pec?nia, “money,” the source of our word pecuniary. Another was pec?li?ris, “relating to one’s pec?lium or personal property, particular to oneself,” the source of our word peculiar. Finally, our word peculate comes from yet a third derivative, pec?l?re, “to embezzle public money.”American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.fee (fi?) n1. a payment asked by professional people or public servants for their services: a doctor’s fee; school fees. 2. a charge made for a privilege: an entrance fee. 3. (Law) property law a. an interest in land capable of being inherited. See fee simple, fee tailb. the land held in fee4. (Historical Terms) (in feudal Europe) the land granted by a lord to his vassal5. an obsolete word for a gratuity6. (Law) in fee a. law (of land) in absolute ownershipb. archaic in complete subjectionvb, fees, feeing or feed7. rare to give a fee to8. chiefly Scot to hire for a fee[C14: from Old French fie, of Germanic origin; see fief] ?feeless adjCollins English Dictionary ? Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014fee (fi) n., v. feed, fee?ing. n. 1. a sum charged or paid, as for professional services or for a privilege: a doctor’s fee; an admission fee. 2. Law. a. an estate of inheritance, either without limitation to a particular class of heirs (fee simple) or limited to one particular class of heirs (fee tail). b. (in the Middle Ages) estate lands held of a feudal lord in return for services performed. c. a territory held in fee. 3. a gratuity; tip. v.t. 4. to give a gratuity to; tip. 5. Chiefly Scot. to hire; employ. Idioms: in fee, in full ownership: an estate held in fee. [1250?1300; Middle English