Feud, n.
Etymology: [OE. feide, AS. f, fr. fah hostile; akin to OHG. f, G. fehde, Sw. fejd, D. feide; prob. akin to E. fiend. See Foe.]
1. A combination of kindred to avenge injuries or affronts, done or offered to any of their blood, on the offender and all his race.
2. A contention or quarrel; especially, an inveterate strife between families, clans, or parties; deadly hatred; contention satisfied only by bloodshed. Mutual feuds and battles betwixt their several tribes and kindreds. Purchas.
Syn. -- Affray; fray; broil; contest; dispute; strife.
1 other Webster entry under this spelling
Feud, n.
(Law)
A stipendiary estate in land, held of superior, by service; the right which a vassal or tenant had to the lands or other immovable thing of his lord, to use the same and take the profists thereof hereditarily, rendering to his superior such duties and services as belong to military tenure, etc., the property of the soil always remaining in the lord or superior; a fief; a fee.
Shades of meaning
A feud is enmity between families, clans, or parties, with acts of hostility mutually retaliated and avenged; feud is rarely used of individuals, never of nations. While all the other words of the group may refer to that which is transient, a feud is long-enduring, and often hereditary. Dissension is used of a number of persons, of a party or other organization. Bitterness is in feeling only; enmity and hostility involve will and purpose to oppose or injure. A quarrel is in word or act, or both, and is commonly slight and transient, as we speak of childish quarrels; contention and strife may be in word or deed; contest ordinarily involves some form of action. Contest is often used in a good sense, contention and strife very rarely so. Controversy is commonly in words; strife extends from verbal controversy to the contests of armies. Affray, brawl, and broil, like quarrel, are words of inferior dignity. An affray or broil may arise at a street corner; the affray always involves physical force; the brawl or broil may be confined to violent language.