Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The chief magistrate of a port or maritime town; in early English history, the representative or appointee of the crown having authority over a mercantile town.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A port warden.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
port warden .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The terms "portreeve" and "bailiff" are extremely familiar, and the offices they denote are by no means extinct; but, in addition to these functionaries, there has been perpetuated a whole family of minor ministers even more closely associated with the agricultural aspects of town life.
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And whereas of old the chief magistrate was a portreeve, I.E., governor of the city, Richard I. appointed two bailiffs; instead of which
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I heard the sobbing of a woman, and because the portreeve had spoken of a man, assumed that it came from a cell other than the one that held my client.
The Shadow of the Torturer Wolfe, Gene 1980
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Dorcas was on the steps of the Hall of Justice, a position reserved for her at my request by the portreeve.
The Shadow of the Torturer Wolfe, Gene 1980
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The thought that I might myself be confined there by some accident (a misunderstood order, for example, or some unsuspected malice on the part of the portreeve) recurred no matter how often I pushed it aside.
The Shadow of the Torturer Wolfe, Gene 1980
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I was cleaning off my boots when the portreeve met me there.
The Shadow of the Torturer Wolfe, Gene 1980
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A portreeve from the Hall of Justice found us there - an imposing man with a high, white forehead like the belly of a pitcher.
The Shadow of the Torturer Wolfe, Gene 1980
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I had gotten detailed directions from the portreeve, and though we missed our way, it was some time before we realized it, and we began our walk quite cheerfully.
The Shadow of the Torturer Wolfe, Gene 1980
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The portreeve asked if we could not stay in the lazaret, and when I shook my head, we - the pcrtreeve, Dorcas, and I - went there to permit him to argue with the physician in charge, who, as I had predicted, refused to have us.
The Shadow of the Torturer Wolfe, Gene 1980
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Glasmont, the seat of John Morris, Esq. the carriage had been drawn through the town by a choice body of exulting tars; and, after being regaled with his friends, by the portreeve, his lordship, and Sir
The Life of the Right Honourable Horatio Lord Viscount Nelson, Volume 2 James Harrison
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