- droit de seigneur
- copulation by a male employer with a female employeeLiterally, a right of the lord of the Manor, which was said to include, fictitiously in most cases, copulating with each virgin in his domain. In modern times such a privilege was claimed by other dominant males, especially in the entertainment industry:The droit de seigneur died with the Hollywood czars. (Deighton, 1972)The feudal system functioned primarily on the lord's ability to demand unpaid labour from tenants or villeins, in return for protection.This practice coined euphemisms such as bederipe (reaping by request) and boonwork (granting a favour):William did additional ploughing as 'boonwork', and in the great communal effort of the summer and autumn helped to gather in the lord's harvest. (Mayberry, 1998 — William de Mora was a 13th-century tenant farmer)Another word for this forced labour, loveboonwork, can only have been used ironically.
How not to say what you mean: A dictionary of euphemisms. R. W. Holder. 2014.