feud

feud formalized private warfare, especially between family groups. The blood feud (see vendetta ) is characteristic of those societies in which a strong central government either has not arisen or has decayed. In modern times the feud, outlawed in most countries, has persisted where public justice cannot be easily enforced and private means are a simpler recourse. A famous example is the 19th-century feud of the Hatfields and McCoys in the mountain regions of the southern United States. The frontier in U.S. history was also characterized by private justice and the feud.

Bibliography: See Waller, A. L., Feud: Hatfields, McCoys, and Social Change in Appalachia, 1860-1900 (1988).

feud2 (hist.) fief. XVII. — medL. feudum, feodum (IX), usu. taken to be of Gmc. origin.
So feudal XVII. feudatory XVI.

feud / fyoōd/ • n. a state of prolonged mutual hostility, typically between two families or communities, characterized by violent assaults in revenge for previous injuries. ∎  a prolonged and bitter quarrel or dispute: one of the most volatile feuds that currently rock the scientific community. • v. [intr.] take part in such a quarrel or violent conflict: Hoover feuded with the CIA for decades.