Dictionary

alderman en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈɑldəɹmən/ (General-American, cot-caught-merger, dialectal) of Canada
• /ˈɒl-/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈɔldəɹmən/ (US) without the cot–caught merger
• audio Queensland
• /ˈɔːldəmən/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈɒldəɹmən/ (Canada, dialectal) of the US
• /ˈoːldəmən/ (Australia, New-Zealand)

Etymology

From Middle English alderman, aldermon, from Old English ealdorman, ealdormann, from ealdor (“elder, parent, chief, prince, author”) + mann (“person”). Doublet of ealdorman.

Meanings

1. A member of a municipal legislative body in a city or town.
2. (UK, historical, obsolete, slang) A half-crown coin; its value, 30 pence.
   • The price of a case (five shillings piece bad) from the smasher is about one shilling; an alderman (two and sixpence) about sixpence; a peg (shilling) about threepence; a downer or sprat (sixpence) about twopence. 1859, Snowden's magistrates assistant, page 90:
   • Half-a-crown is known as an alderman, half a bull, half a tusheroon, and a madza caroon; whilst a crown piece, or five shillings, may be called either a bull, or a caroon, or a cartwheel, or a coachwheel, or a thick-un, or a tusheroon. [1859, J. C. Hotten, A Dictionary of Modern Slang, Cant, and Vulgar Words:
3. A long pipe for smoking.
   • In one part of Cockaigne an amalgamation of these two last has lately taken place; and the pleasure experienced by the parishioners of Walbrook is unbounded when smoking an alderman and churchwarden. 1843, John William Carleton, The Sporting Review, volume 10, page 419:
4. (US, slang) A large, protruding, or swollen abdomen; a paunch, a potbelly.
   • He'd exercise, get the fat off, because if he let it go, he'd have too much on and maybe make his heart worse, and you looked like hell with an alderman. […] And she wouldn't want a guy who stuck out in front like a balloon. 1934, James T. Farrell, chapter 13, in The Young Manhood of Studs Lonigan:
5. Synonym of starosta
   • The chief man of a vollost is a Zasidatil; the chief man of a village is a Starosta, or alderman. 1883, John Croumbie Brown, Finland: Its Forests and Forest Management, Edinburgh · London · Montreal: Oliver and Boyd · Simpkin, Marshall, & Co. and William Rider & Son · Dawson Brothers, Preface, page x:
   • Both the Council and the Department are presided over by a District Alderman (starosta) nominated by the Ministry of the Interior, and performing a series of purely administrative duties. 1925, Francis Bauer Czarnomski, editor, The Polish Handbook 1925: A Guide to the Country and Resources of the Republic of Poland, London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, Ltd., His Majesty’s Printers, II. Local Government in Poland, 3. District Self-Government, (a) In former German Provinces, page 46:
   • The family name of a person is but rarely used and sometimes it is almost ignored, people being addressed and spoken of by the name of the farm to which they belong. The family names represented in the village are either derived from Christian names: Filip (Philip), Janacek (Jacky): or they designate a position or occupation: Pohúnek (farm-apprentice), Starosta (alderman), Dráb (constable), or they are borrowed from natural history: Zízala (dew-worm), Skvor (earwig), Vosicky (aspen-tree). 1926 May–August, Ladislav Jonáš, “A Bohemian Village” (pages 195–206), in Benjamin George Hardingham, Bernard Theodore Martyn Hebert, Edith Irene Hebert (née Doughty), Margaret Tatton, editors, Observation: A magazine for those who would see & observe “the glory, jest and riddle of the world.”, Part 8 (4th Part of Vol. II)., Broad Street, Oxford: Basil Blackwell, published December 1926, page 200:
   • Sometimes envoys, noblemen (dvorjane), summoners (podvojskie), aldermen (starosty), and merchants also appear under their first name only: for example, the dvorjane Stepanko and Ivanko (Doc. No. †92, dated 1400/25), the podvojskie Olferei and Feodor (Doc. No. 327, 15th c.), the starosta Vasilʹ (Doc. No. †922, 15th c.), the kupcy Makarьja, Oksentei and Grigorьja (Doc. No. †56, before 1417). 1959, Astrid Bæcklund, Personal Names in Medieval Velikij Novgorod. I. Common Names (Acta Universitatis Stockholmiensis; IX), Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell, page 49:
   • Beſides theſe two Gentlemen, and Secretaries that order the whole Citie, there are Staruſts or Aldermen for euerie ſeuerall companie. The Alderman hath his Sotskey or Conſtable, and the Conſtable hath certeine Decetskeis or Decurions vnder him, which haue the ouerſight of ten houſholds a peece, whereby euerie diſorder is ſooner ſpide, and the common ſeruice hath the quicker diſpach. The whole number of Citizens poore and rich are reduced into companies. The chiefe officers (as the Dyacks and Gentlemen) are appointed by the Emperour himſelfe, the Staruſt by the Gentlemen and Dyacks, the Sotskoy by the Staruſt or Alderman, and the Decetskotes by the Conſtables. 1591, Giles Fletcher, “Of the gouernment of their Prouinces and Shires.” (chapter 10), in Of the Ruſſe Common Wealth. Or, Maner of Gouernement by the Ruſſe Emperour, (commonly called the Emperour of Moskouia) with the manners, and faſhions of the people of that Countrey., London: Thomas Charde, fol. 33𐞩, lines 7–23:

Forms

Deriveds

aldermanry · aldermanity · aldermanship · aldermanic · alderman hung in chains · aldermanate · aldermancy · aldermanlike · aldermanly · alderman-at-large · alderman in chains · alderperson · aldermaness · alderman lizard

Descendants

о́лдърме́н · о́лдермен · о́лдермен

Synonyms

baillie · starosta

Translations (36)

gl rexedora (member of a municipal legislative body in a city or town) · es concejal (member of a municipal legislative body in a city or town) · fy wethâlder (member of a municipal legislative body in a city or town) · ca regidor (member of a municipal legislative body in a city or town) · pt vereador (member of a municipal legislative body in a city or town) · cs obecní starší (member of a municipal legislative body in a city or town) · gl concelleira (member of a municipal legislative body in a city or town) · es regidor (member of a municipal legislative body in a city or town) · gl concelleiro (member of a municipal legislative body in a city or town) · cy aldramon (member of a municipal legislative body in a city or town) · gl rexedor (member of a municipal legislative body in a city or town) · cs konšel (member of a municipal legislative body in a city or town) · el δημοτικός σύμβουλος (member of a municipal legislative body in a city or town) · hy ավագանու անդամ (member of a municipal legislative body in a city or town) · ro consilieră (member of a municipal legislative body in a city or town) · fi kaupunginisä (member of a municipal legislative body in a city or town) · io skabino (member of a municipal legislative body in a city or town) · et linnavolinik (member of a municipal legislative body in a city or town) · pl ławnik (member of a municipal legislative body in a city or town) · cy henadur (member of a municipal legislative body in a city or town) · pl radny (member of a municipal legislative body in a city or town) · cs radní (member of a municipal legislative body in a city or town) · pt vereadora (member of a municipal legislative body in a city or town) · fi valtuutettu (member of a municipal legislative body in a city or town) · fr conseiller municipal (member of a municipal legislative body in a city or town) · it aldermanno (member of a municipal legislative body in a city or town) · nl wethouder (member of a municipal legislative body in a city or town) · eo skabeno (member of a municipal legislative body in a city or town) · fi raatimies (member of a municipal legislative body in a city or town) · bg о́лдърме́н (member of a municipal legislative body in a city or town) · pt edil (member of a municipal legislative body in a city or town) · nl schepen (member of a municipal legislative body in a city or town) · fr échevin (member of a municipal legislative body in a city or town) · ru о́лдермен (member of a municipal legislative body in a city or town) · ro consilier (member of a municipal legislative body in a city or town) · de Schöffe (member of a municipal legislative body in a city or town)