burgess

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search
See also: Burgess

English

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

From Middle English burgeis,[1] from Anglo-Norman burgeis, of Proto-Germanic origin; either from Late Latin burgensis (from Latin burgus), or from Frankish *burg, both from Proto-Germanic *burgz (stronghold, city), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerǵʰ-.[2] See also bourgeois, burgish.

Pronunciation

[edit]

Noun

[edit]

burgess (plural burgesses)

  1. An inhabitant of a borough with full rights; a citizen.
    • 1892, Walter Besant, chapter III, in The Ivory Gate [], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, [], →OCLC:
      In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle, a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening, for a pipe and a cheerful glass. In this way all respectable burgesses, down to fifty years ago, spent their evenings.
    • 1907, Antiquities of Sunderland and Its Vicinity - Volumes 5-7, page 73:
      If any burgess be appealed of a plea whereon wager of battle may issue by a villein or outdweller , let him defend himself by oath, that is to say by the 36 men, unless he is challenged in respect of a crime that the law requires him to defend by battle, in no case ought a burgess to fight against a villein if he have challenged him unless before the dispute he shall have quitted the burgage.
  2. (historical) A town magistrate.
  3. (historical, UK) A representative of a borough in the Parliament.
  4. (historical, US) A member of the House of Burgesses, a legislative body in colonial America, established by the Virginia Company to provide civil rule in the colonies.

Derived terms

[edit]
[edit]

Translations

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Burgess (title) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
  2. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “burgess”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.