\Fee\ (f[=e]), n. [OE. fe, feh, feoh, cattle, property,
money, fief, AS. feoh cattle, property, money; the senses of
``property, money,'' arising from cattle being used in early
times as a medium of exchange or payment, property chiefly
consisting of cattle; akin to OS. fehu cattle, property, D.
vee cattle, OHG. fihu, fehu, G. vieh, Icel. f[=e] cattle,
property, money, Goth. fa['i]hu, L. pecus cattle, pecunia
property, money, Skr. pa[,c]u cattle, perh. orig., ``a
fastened or tethered animal,'' from a root signifying to
bind, and perh. akin to E. fang, fair, a.; cf. OF. fie, flu,
feu, fleu, fief, F. fief, from German, of the same origin.
the sense fief is due to the French. [root]249. Cf. {Feud},
{Fief}, {Fellow}, {Pecuniary}.]
1. property; possession; tenure. ``Laden with rich fee.''
   --Spenser.
         Once did she hold the gorgeous East in fee.
                                               --Wordsworth.
2. Reward or compensation for services rendered or to be
   rendered; especially, payment for professional services,
   of optional amount, or fixed by custom or laws; charge;
   pay; perquisite; as, the fees of lawyers and physicians;
   the fees of office; clerk's fees; sheriff's fees; marriage
   fees, etc.
         To plead for love deserves more fee than hate.
                                               --Shak.
3. (Feud. Law) A right to the use of a superior's land, as a
   stipend for services to be performed; also, the land so
   held; a fief.
4. (Eng. Law) An estate of inheritance supposed to be held
   either mediately or immediately from the sovereign, and
   absolutely vested in the owner.
Note: All the land in England, except the crown land, is of
      this kind. An absolute fee, or fee simple, is land
      which a man holds to himself and his heirs forever, who
      are called tenants in fee simple. In modern writers, by
      fee is usually meant fee simple. A limited fee may be a
      qualified or base fee, which ceases with the existence
      of certain conditions; or a conditional fee, or fee
      tail, which is limited to particular heirs.
      --Blackstone.
5. (Amer. Law) An estate of inheritance belonging to the
   owner, and transmissible to his heirs, absolutely and
   simply, without condition attached to the tenure.
{Fee estate} (Eng. Law), land or tenements held in fee in
   consideration or some acknowledgment or service rendered
   to the lord.
{Fee farm} (Law), land held of another in fee, in
   consideration of an annual rent, without homage, fealty,
   or any other service than that mentioned in the feoffment;
   an estate in fee simple, subject to a perpetual rent.
   --Blackstone.
{Fee farm rent} (Eng. Law), a perpetual rent reserved upon a
   conveyance in fee simple.
{Fee fund} (Scot. Law), certain court dues out of which the
   clerks and other court officers are paid.
{Fee simple} (Law), an absolute fee; a fee without conditions
   or limits.
         Buy the fee simple of my life for an hour and a
         quarter.                              --Shak.
{Fee tail} (Law), an estate of inheritance, limited and
   restrained to some particular heirs. --Burill.

\Fee\ (f[=e]), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Feed} (f[=e]d); p. pr. &
vb. n. {Feeing}.]
To reward for services performed, or to be performed; to
recompense; to hire or keep in hire; hence, to bribe.
      The patient . . . fees the doctor.       --Dryden.
      There's not a one of them but in his house I keep a
      servant feed.                            --Shak.