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Webster 1913 Edition


Burgess

Bur′gess

,
Noun.
[OE.
burgeis
, OF.
burgeis
, fr.
burc
fortified town, town, F.
bourg
village, fr. LL.
burgus
fort, city; from the German; cf. MHG.
burc
, G.
burg
. See 1st
Borough
, and cf. 2d
Bourgeois
.]
1.
An inhabitant of a borough or walled town, or one who possesses a tenement therein; a citizen or freeman of a borough.
Blackstone.
☞ “A burgess of a borough corresponds with a citizen of a city.”
Burrill.
2.
One who represents a borough in Parliament.
3.
A magistrate of a borough.
4.
An inhabitant of a Scotch burgh qualified to vote for municipal officers.
☞ Before the Revolution, the representatives in the popular branch of the legislature of Virginia were called burgesses; they are now called delegates.
Burgess oath
.
See
Burgher
, 2.

Webster 1828 Edition


Burgess

BURG'ESS

,
Noun.
1.
An inhabitant of a borough, or walled town; or one who possesses a tenement therein; a citizen or freeman of a borough.
2.
A representative of a borough in parliament.
3.
A magistrate of certain towns.
4.
Before the revolution, the representatives in the popular branch of the legislature of Virginia, were called burgesses, as the House of Burgesses. It is now called the House of Delegate.

Definition 2024


Burgess

Burgess

See also: burgess

English

Proper noun

Burgess

  1. A surname.

burgess

burgess

See also: Burgess

English

Noun

burgess (plural burgesses)

  1. An inhabitant of a borough with full rights; a citizen.
    • 1893, Walter Besant, The Ivory Gate, chapter III:
      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.
  2. (historical) A town magistrate.
  3. (historical, Britain) A representative of a borough in the Parliament.
  4. (historical, US) 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.

Translations