RELIEF

I. noun Etymology: Middle English relef, ~, from Anglo-French from relever to relieve Date: 14th century a payment made by a male feudal tenant to his lord on succeeding to an inherited estate, 2. removal or lightening of something oppressive, painful, or distressing, welfare 2a, military assistance to an endangered post or force, means of breaking or avoiding monotony or boredom ; diversion , release from a post or from the performance of duty, one that takes the place of another on duty, legal remedy or redress, 6. \French, from Middle French, from Italian rilievo relievo] a mode of sculpture in which forms and figures are distinguished from a surrounding plane surface, sculpture or a sculptural form executed in this mode, projecting detail, ornament, or figures, 7. sharpness of outline due to contrast , the state of being distinguished by contrast , the elevations or inequalities of a land surface, the pitching done by a ~ pitcher , II. adjective Date: 1838 providing ~, characterized by surface inequalities, of or used in letterpress