Ar-riēre'-bān, n.
n. [O. Fr. arban, heriban, herisban, Pr. auriban, L. Lat. arbanum, arribannum, herebannum, heribannum, O. H. Ger. haribān, heribān, N. H. Ger. heerbann, the calling together of an army, from O. H. Ger. heri, an army, and ban, a public call or order. The French have misunderstood their old word, and have changed it into arrière-ban, though arrière has no connection with its proper meaning. See BAN and ABANDON.]
Sense 1. A proclamation of the French kings, calling not only their immediate feudatories, but the vassals of these feudatories, to take the field for war.
Sense 2. The assembly of such vassals.
Arriere-fee, or fief, a fee or fief dependent on a superior fee, or a fee held of a feudatory.—Arriere vassal, the vassal of a vassal.