Emily Dickinson Lexicon

VAS'SAL, n. [Fr. vassal; It. vassallo; Sp. vasallo; W. gwâs, boy or youth, a page, a servant; gwasâu, to serve.]

1. A feudatory; a tenant; one who holds land of a superior, and who vows fidelity and homage to him. A rear vassal is one who holds of a lord who is himself a vassal.
2. A subject; a dependant. – Hooker.
3. A servant. – Shak.
4. In common language, a bondman; a political slave. We will never be the vassals of a foreign prince.