[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.
1844. Mary Hennell, Soc. Systems, 82. The Mail, the recognized organ of Irish landlordism.
1849. Cobden, Speeches, 87. If it is the spirit of landlordism that stands in the way of improvement in Ireland.
1880. McCarthy, Own Times, IV. 281. The landlordism of Ireland was, compared with most European institutions, a thing of the day before yesterday.