burgess en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (US) audio
- /ˈbɜːd͡ʒɪs/ (Received-Pronunciation)
Etymology
From Middle English burgeis, from Anglo-Norman burgeis (“town-dweller”), 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-. See also borough, bourgeois, burgish.
Meanings
-
An inhabitant of a borough with full rights; a citizen.
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.
1892, Walter Besant, chapter III, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC: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.
1907, Antiquities of Sunderland and Its Vicinity - Volumes 5-7, page 73:
- (historical) A town magistrate.
- (UK, historical) A representative of a borough in the Parliament.
- (US, historical) 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.
- (qualifier:Saskatchewan) A person who pays municipal taxes, a ratepayer.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| burgesses | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Deriveds
burgess-ship · nonburgess · comburgess · Burgess · burgessdom
Relateds
burgher · burgessy · bourgeois · right of burgess
Translations (12)
nl poorter (inhabitant of a borough with full rights) · ga buirgéiseach (inhabitant of a borough with full rights) · nl burger (inhabitant of a borough with full rights) · cy porthmon (inhabitant of a borough with full rights) · cy bwrdais (inhabitant of a borough with full rights) · gv cochorpagh (inhabitant of a borough with full rights) · fi porvari (inhabitant of a borough with full rights) · ca burgès (inhabitant of a borough with full rights) · it cittadino (inhabitant of a borough with full rights) · cmn 市民 (inhabitant of a borough with full rights) · de (historical)Bürgerin (inhabitant of a borough with full rights) · de Bürger (inhabitant of a borough with full rights)