[f. prec. sb. + -ISM.] The principles or practice of landlords; the system according to which land is owned by landlords to whom tenants pay a fixed rent (chiefly used with reference to Ireland); advocacy or practice of such a system.

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1844.  Mary Hennell, Soc. Systems, 82. The Mail, the recognized organ of Irish landlordism.

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1849.  Cobden, Speeches, 87. If it is the spirit of landlordism that stands in the way of improvement in Ireland.

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1880.  McCarthy, Own Times, IV. 281. The landlordism of Ireland was, compared with most European institutions, a thing of the day before yesterday.

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