clientshipn.
/ˈklʌɪəntʃɪp/, U.S. /ˈklaɪəntˌʃɪp/ 1. The status or position of a dependant or client (client n. 1); the relation between such a client and his or her patron. Also: an instance of this.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > subjection > service > feudal service > [noun] > person similar to feudal vassal > in ancient Rome > position or relation of
clientry1594
clientele1611
clientship1649
clientelage1660
clientage1777
1649 C. Walker Anarchia Anglicana ii. 145 Their Nomenclators, their Prehensations, Invitations, Clientships.
1697 J. Dryden Ded. Ld. Clifford in tr. Virgil Wks. sig. A2v Patronage and Clientship always descended from the Fathers to the Sons.
1718 C. Place Some Free Thoughts 20 All Religions, and Men without the Bounds of all Religion, are admitted to a Right of Clientship under him [sc. God.]
1789 Ld. Monboddo Of Origin & Progress of Lang. V. i. iii. 107 The connection..betwixt the nobles and the lower sort of people by the means of Patronship and Clientship, which our author celebrates.
1835 G. Beaumont Inq. Origin Copyhold Tenure 18 One of the twenty-two was subject to the territorial, or feudal, clientship, here called homage, and distinguished from the old personal clientship.
1878 J. R. Seeley Life & Times Stein I. 208 A number of middle States..were attached to France in a condition of clientship.
1908 P. C. Sands Client Princes Rom. Empire Under Republic i. 45 Such treaties only bound Rome to friendly interest, and put those who sought them on a footing of clientship, not of strict alliance.
1977 T. Tlou in S. Miers & I. Kopytoff Slavery Afr. xiv. 373 Yei traditions indicate that a kind of clientship existed; poorer members of the community attached themselves to richer ones.
2010 Internat. Jrnl. Afr. Hist. Stud. 43 414 Relationships of indebtedness and clientship are established through ritualized generosity and established roles.
2.
a. The clients or potential clients of a particular business, person, etc., considered collectively; a client base. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > buying > buyer > [noun] > customer or client > collectively
custom1665
clientele1835
clientship1855
customer base1954
client base1957
1855 Association Med. Jrnl. (Provincial Med. & Surg. Assoc.) 2 Nov. 1000/2 A clientship of members now reckoned by thousands.
1887 J. M'Clintock & J. Strong Cycl. Biblical, Theol., & Eccl. Lit. Suppl. II. 567/2 By a large number of publications on the subject of jurisprudence, he obtained from the beginning a large clientship.
1922 Boston Sunday Globe 24 Sept. 22/5 (advt.) Dressmaking establishment,..well-established clientship.
b. The fact or position of being the client of a business, service, etc.; the relation between such a client and the person or organization providing a product or service.
ΚΠ
1954 Deming (New Mexico) Headlight 30 Apr. 4/3 A barbering chain in Chicago is soft-soaping teenagers into clientship with the novel offer of ‘your first shave free’.
1974 Farmington (New Mexico) Daily Times 26 Dec. 2 a/3 The only requirement for clientship..is a commitment on the part of the individual to permanent abstinence from the use of alcohol.
1999 Contract Jrnl. (Nexis) 13 Jan. 6 The client is much more active in the whole process now. Clientship is much higher on the agenda.
2007 M. Forsey Challenging System? 27 This consensus has shifted the focus of national governance away from citizenship and service toward clientship and consumerism.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2016; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1649