Allegiance : (noun)
1: the act of binding yourself (intellectually or emotionally)
to a course of action; "his long commitment to public
service"; "they felt no loyalty to a losing team" [syn:
commitment, loyalty, dedication]
2: the loyalty that citizens owe to their country (or subjects
to their sovereign) [syn: fealty]
Based on WordNet 2.0
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Allegiance : \Al*le"giance\, n. [OE. alegeaunce; pref. a- _ OF.
lige, liege. The meaning was influenced by L. ligare to bind,
and even by lex, legis, law. See Liege, Ligeance.]
1. The tie or obligation, implied or expressed, which a
subject owes to his sovereign or government; the duty of
fidelity to one's king, government, or state.
2. Devotion; loyalty; as, allegiance to science.
Syn: Loyalty; fealty.
Usage: Allegiance, Loyalty. These words agree in
expressing the general idea of fidelity and attachment
to the ``powers that be.'' Allegiance is an obligation
to a ruling power. Loyalty is a feeling or sentiment
towards such power. Allegiance may exist under any
form of government, and, in a republic, we generally
speak of allegiance to the government, to the state,
etc. In well conducted monarchies, loyalty is a
warm-hearted feeling of fidelity and obedience to the
sovereign. It is personal in its nature; and hence we
speak of the loyalty of a wife to her husband, not of
her allegiance. In cases where we personify, loyalty
is more commonly the word used; as, loyalty to the
constitution; loyalty to the cause of virtue; loyalty
to truth and religion, etc.
Hear me, recreant, on thine allegiance hear me!
--Shak.
So spake the Seraph Abdiel, faithful found, . .
. Unshaken, unseduced, unterrified, His loyalty
he kept, his love, his zeal. --Milton.
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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ALLEGIANCE. The tie which binds the citizen to the government, in return for
the protection which the government affords him.
2. It is natural, acquired, or local. NaturalAllegiance : is such as is
due from all men born within the United States; acquired allegiance is that
which is due by a naturalized citizen. It has never been decided whether a
citizen can, by expatriation, divest himself absolutely of that character. 2
Cranch, 64; 1 Peters' C. C. Rep. 159; 7 Wheat. R. 283; 9 Mass. R. 461.
Infants cannot assume allegiance, (4 Bin. 49) although they enlist in the
army of the United States. 5 Bin. 429.
3. It seems, however, that he cannot renounce his allegiance to the
United States without the permission of the government, to be declared by
law. But for commercial purposes he may acquire the rights of a citizen of
another country, and the place of his domicil determines the character of a
party as to trade. 1 Kent, Com. 71; Com. Rep. 677; 2 Kent, Com. 42.
4. Local allegiance is that which is due from an alien, while resident
in the United States, for the protection which the government affords him. 1
Bl. Com. 366, 372; Com. Dig. h.t; Dane's Ab. Index, h.t.; 1 East, P.C. 49
to 57.
Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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