Allegiance
Allegiance ({not transcribed}) , noun
[Old English alegeaunce; pref. a- + Old French lige, liege. The meaning was influenced by Latin ligare to bind, and even by lex, legis, law. See Liege, Ligeance.]
1.
The tie or obligation, implied or expressed, which a subject owes to his sovereign or government; the duty of fidelity to one's king, government, or state.
2.
Devotion; loyalty; as, allegiance to science.
Hear me, recreant, on thine allegiance hear me!
So spake the Seraph Abdiel, faithful found,...
Unshaken, unseduced, unterrified,
His loyalty he kept, his love, his zeal.