from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Glebe \Glebe\, n. [F. gl[`e]be, L. gleba, glaeba, clod, land,
soil.]
1. A lump; a clod.
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2. Turf; soil; ground; sod.
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Fertile of corn the glebe, of oil, and wine.
--Milton.
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3. (Eccl. Law) The land belonging, or yielding revenue, to a
parish church or ecclesiastical benefice.
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from
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
GLEBE, eccl. law. The land which belongs to a church. It is the dowry of the
church. Gleba est terra qua consistit dos ecclesiae. Lind. 254; 9 Cranch,
Rep. 329. In the civil law it signified the soil of an inheritance; there
were serfs of the glebe, called gleboe addicti. Code, 11, 47, 7 et 21; Nov.
54, c. 1.