baron

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: bar=on

CIDE DICTIONARY

baron, n. [OE. baron, barun, OF. baron, accus. of ber, F. baron, prob. fr. OHG. baro (not found) bearer, akin to E. bear to support; cf. O. Frisian bere, LL. baro, It. barone, Sp. varon. From the meaning bearer (of burdens) seem to have come the senses strong man, man (in distinction from woman), which is the oldest meaning in French, and lastly, nobleman. Cf. L. baro, simpleton. See Bear to support.].

•  A title or degree of nobility; originally, the possessor of a fief, who had feudal tenants under him; in modern times, in France and Germany, a nobleman next in rank below a count; in England, a nobleman of the lowest grade in the House of Lords, being next below a viscount.  [1913 Webster]

  " “The tenants in chief from the Crown, who held lands of the annual value of four hundred pounds, were styled Barons; and it is to them, and not to the members of the lowest grade of the nobility (to whom the title at the present time belongs), that reference is made when we read of the Barons of the early days of England's history. . . . Barons are addressed as "  Cussans.  [1913 Webster]
•  A husband; as, baron and feme, husband and wife.  Cowell.  [1913 Webster]

Baron of beef, two sirloins not cut asunder at the backbone. -- Barons of the Cinque Ports, formerly members of the House of Commons, elected by the seven Cinque Ports, two for each port. -- Barons of the exchequer, the judges of the Court of Exchequer, one of the three ancient courts of England, now abolished.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

baron, n.
1 a a member of the lowest order of the British nobility. b a similar member of a foreign nobility.
2 an important businessman or other powerful or influential person (sugar baron; newspaper baron).
3 hist. a person who held lands or property from the sovereign or a powerful overlord.

Idiom

baron of beef an undivided double sirloin.

Etymology

ME f. AF barun, OF baron f. med.L baro, -onis man, of unkn. orig.

THESAURUS

baron

Brahman, Establishment, VIP, archduke, aristocracy, aristocrat, armiger, banker, baronet, barons, big boss, big businessman, big gun, big man, big name, bigwig, blue blood, brass, brass hat, business leader, businessman, captain of industry, celebrity, count, cream, czar, daimio, dignitary, dignity, director, duke, earl, elder, elite, enterpriser, entrepreneur, esquire, establishment, father, figure, financier, gentleman, grand duke, grandee, great man, hidalgo, important person, industrialist, interests, king, lace-curtain, laird, landgrave, lion, little businessman, lord, lordling, lords of creation, magnate, magnifico, man of commerce, man of mark, manager, margrave, marquis, merchant prince, mogul, nabob, name, nobility, noble, nobleman, notability, notable, optimate, overlapping, palsgrave, panjandrum, patrician, peer, person of renown, personage, personality, pillar of society, power, power elite, power structure, prince, ruling circle, ruling circles, ruling class, sachem, seigneur, seignior, silk-stocking, somebody, something, squire, swell, the best, the best people, the brass, the great, the top, thoroughbred, top brass, top executive, top people, tycoon, upper class, upper crust, upper-cruster, very important person, viscount, waldgrave, worthy

ROGET THESAURUS

baron

Judge

N judge, justice, justiciar, justiciary, chancellor, justice of assize, judge of assize, recorder, common sergeant, puisne judge, assistant judge, county court judge, conservator of the peace, justice of the peace, J, P, court, magistrate, police magistrate, beak, his worship, his honor, his lordship, jury, twelve men in a box, Lord Chancellor, Lord Justice, Master of the Rolls, Vice Chancellor, Lord Chief Justice, Chief Baron, Mr, Justice, Associate Justice, Chief Justice, Baron, Baron of the Exchequer, jurat, assessor, arbiter, arbitrator, umpire, referee, referendary, revising barrister, domesman, censor, barmaster, ephor, grand juror, grand juryman, juryman, talesman, archon, tribune, praetor, syndic, podesta, mollah, ulema, mufti, cadi, kadi, Rhadamanthus, litigant, judicial, a Daniel come to judgment.

Nobility

N nobility, rank, condition, distinction, optimacy, blood, pur sang, birth, high descent, order, quality, gentility, blue blood of Castile, ancien regime, high life, haute monde, upper classes, upper ten thousand, the four hundred, elite, aristocracy, great folks, fashionable world, peer, peerage, house of lords, house of peers, lords, lords temporal and spiritual, noblesse, noble, nobleman, lord, lordling, grandee, magnifico, hidalgo, daimio, daimyo, samurai, shizoku, don, donship, aristocrat, swell, three- tailed bashaw, gentleman, squire, squireen, patrician, laureate, gentry, gentlefolk, squirarchy, better sort magnates, primates, optimates, pantisocracy, king, atheling, prince, duke, marquis, marquisate, earl, viscount, baron, thane, banneret, baronet, baronetcy, knight, knighthood, count, armiger, laird, signior, seignior, esquire, boyar, margrave, vavasour, emir, ameer, scherif, sharif, effendi, wali, sahib, chevalier, maharaja, nawab, palsgrave, pasha, rajah, waldgrave, princess, begum, duchess, marchioness, countess, lady, dame, memsahib, Do$a, maharani, rani, personage of distinction, man of distinction, personage of rank, man of rank, personage of mark, man of mark, notables, notabilities, celebrity, bigwig, magnate, great man, star, superstar, big bug, big gun, great gun, gilded rooster, magni nominis umbra, every inch a king, noble, exalted, of rank, princely, titled, patrician, aristocratic, high-, well-born, of gentle blood, genteel, comme il faut, gentlemanlike, courtly, highly respectable, in high quarters, Adel sitzt im Gemuthe nicht im Gebluete, adelig und edel sind zweierlei, noblesse oblige.

Marriage

N marriage, matrimony, wedlock, union, intermarriage, miscegenation, the bonds of marriage, vinculum matrimonii, nuptial tie, married state, coverture, bed, cohabitation, match, betrothment, wedding, nuptials, Hymen, bridal, espousals, spousals, leading to the altar, nuptial benediction, epithalamium, sealing, torch of Hymen, temple of Hymen, hymeneal altar, honeymoon, bridesmaid, bridesman, best man, bride, bridegroom, married man, married woman, married couple, neogamist, Benedict, partner, spouse, mate, yokemate, husband, man, consort, baron, old man, good man, wife of one's bosom, helpmate, rib, better half, gray mare, old woman, old lady, good wife, goodwife, feme, feme coverte, squaw, lady, matron, matronage, matronhood, man and wife, wedded pair, Darby and Joan, spiritual wife, monogamy, bigamy, digamy, deuterogamy, trigamy, polygamy, mormonism, levirate, spiritual wifery, spiritual wifeism, polyandrism, Turk, bluebeard, unlawful marriage, left-handed marriage, morganatic marriage, ill- assorted marriage, mesalliance, mariage de convenance, marriage broker, matrimonial agency, matrimonial agent, matrimonial bureau, matchmaker, schatchen, married, one, one bone and one flesh, marriageable, nubile, engaged, betrothed, affianced, matrimonial, marital, conjugal, connubial, wedded, nuptial, hymeneal, spousal, bridal, the gray mare the better horse, a world-without-end bargain, marriages are made in Heaven, render me worthy of this noble wife, si qua voles apte nubere nube pari.