thane

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A freeman granted land by the king in return for military service in Anglo-Saxon England.
• noun A man ranking above an ordinary freeman and below a nobleman in Anglo-Saxon England.
• noun A feudal lord or baron in Scotland.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun In early English history, a member of a rank above that of the ordinary freeman, and differing from that of the athelings, or hereditary ancient nobility.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun A dignitary under the Anglo-Saxons and Danes in England. Of these there were two orders, the king's thanes, who attended the kings in their courts and held lands immediately of them, and the ordinary thanes, who were lords of manors and who had particular jurisdiction within their limits. After the Conquest, this title was disused, and baron took its place.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun in Anglo-Saxon England, a man holding lands from the king, or from a superior in rank. There were two orders, the king's thanes, who attended the kings in their courts and held lands immediately of them, and the ordinary thanes, who were lords of manors and who had particular jurisdiction within their limits. After the Norman Conquest, this title was no longer used, and baron took its place.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a feudal lord or baron
• noun a man ranking above an ordinary freeman and below a noble in Anglo-Saxon England (especially one who gave military service in exchange for land)