Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- n. A freeman or citizen of an English borough.
- n. A member of the English Parliament who once represented a town, borough, or university.
- n. A member of the lower house of the legislature of colonial Virginia or Maryland.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- n. An inhabitant of a borough with full rights; a citizen.
- n. A town magistrate.
- n. A representative of a borough in the Parliament.
- n. A member of the House of Burgesses, a legislative body in the colonial America, established by Virginia Company to provide civil rule in the colonies.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- n. An inhabitant of a borough or walled town, or one who possesses a tenement therein; a citizen or freeman of a borough.
- n. One who represents a borough in Parliament.
- n. A magistrate of a borough.
- n. An inhabitant of a Scotch burgh qualified to vote for municipal officers.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In England, an inhabitant of a borough or walled town, or one who possesses a tenement therein; a citizen or freeman of a borough.
- n. A representative of a borough in the British Parliament.
- n. Hence The title given before the revolution to the representatives in the popular branch of the legislature of Virginia, which was styled the House of Burgesses, but is now called the House of Delegates. The title of members of the lower house in the colonial legislature of Maryland.
- n. A magistrate of a corporate town.
- n. A member of the corporation of a Scotch burgh; now, any inhabitant of a burgh of full age, rated for poor-rates, and not in arrears, and who for a period of three years has occupied any house, shop, or other building in it, not being an alien and not having received either parochial or burgh relief for twelve months preceding the last Whitsunday.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- n. a citizen of an English borough
- n. English writer of satirical novels (1917-1993)
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Examples
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A middle class arose, comprised of bankers, merchants and craftsman, and was known as the "burgess" in England, the "bourgeoisie" in France, and the "burgher" in Germany.
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_ Virginia), a "burgess" was a member of the legislative body, which was termed the "House of Burgesses."
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 4 "Bulgaria" to "Calgary"
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The third son of Walter and Isobel Peirson, Alexander Peirson, represented Edinburgh in the Convention of Estates at Holyrood House, in 1602, and in the Scottish Parliament of 1608, having been since 1586 a merchant burgess of Edinburgh.
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Benjamin [freeholder, Williams Town, burgess for Lonsdale Ward], A [Alexander].
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Broadfoot [freeholder, River Plenty, burgess for Lonsdale Ward], E [rskine?].
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And btw do you think this hurts me with my base? what about you, mike, will you endorse me next time if i vote for burgess 'position?
State Should Close Loophole to Public Disclosure Law « PubliCola
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This might have become tedious from an older man, but one after another his patrons reassured him that his reputation was safe from “the vain babbling of worthless, malicious, envious sycophants,” as one burgess called the Centinel.80
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While GW was touring, his name was put up for election as a burgess from Frederick County, possibly without his knowledge, and in any case with not much time to campaign, and he lost.
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CNN and Ms. Ferraro should be ashamed of themselves for reporting such divisive non-news in interest of ratings, rather than the very serious matter at hand, which is the election of our next President. brian burgess
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You've got it in one (and my mother was a matron). burgess
On Thursday, the Legg report will be published along with...
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