Loy'al-ty, n.

[O. Fr. loialteit, leálted, leialted, N. Fr. loyauté, Pr. leyaltat, leialtat, lialtat, Sp. lealtad, It. lealtà, legalità.] The state or quality of being loyal; fidelity to a superior, or to duty, love, &c. He had such loyalty to the king as the law requires. Clarendon.

“Loyalty . . . being derived from [Fr.] loi, expresses, properly, that fidelity which one owes according to law, and does not necessarily include that attachment to the royal person, which, happily, we in England have been able further to throw into the word.” Trench.

Syn.—Allegiance; fealty. See ALLEGIANCE.