burgess

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: Bur=gess

CIDE DICTIONARY

burgess, n. [OE. burgeis, OF. burgeis, fr. burcfortified 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.].

•  An inhabitant of a borough or walled town, or one who possesses a tenement therein; a citizen or freeman of a borough.  Blackstone.  [1913 Webster]

  " “A burgess of a borough corresponds with a citizen of a city.”"  Burrill.  [1913 Webster]
•  One who represents a borough in Parliament.  [1913 Webster]
•  A magistrate of a borough.  [1913 Webster]
•  An inhabitant of a Scotch burgh qualified to vote for municipal officers.  [1913 Webster]

  " Before the Revolution, the representatives in the popular branch of the legislature of Virginia were called burgesses; they are now called delegates."  [1913 Webster]

Burgess oath. See Burgher, 2.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

burgess, n.
1 Brit. an inhabitant of a town or borough, esp. of one with full municipal rights.
2 Brit. hist. a Member of Parliament for a borough, corporate town, or university.
3 US a borough magistrate or governor.

Etymology

ME f. OF burgeis ult. f. LL burgus BOROUGH

ROGET THESAURUS

burgess

Inhabitant

N inhabitant, resident, residentiary, dweller, indweller, addressee, occupier, occupant, householder, lodger, inmate, tenant, incumbent, sojourner, locum tenens, commorant, settler, squatter, backwoodsman, colonist, islander, denizen, citizen, burgher, oppidan, cockney, cit, townsman, burgess, villager, cottager, cottier, cotter, compatriot, backsettler, boarder, hotel keeper, innkeeper, habitant, paying guest, planter, native, indigene, aborigines, autochthones, Englishman, John Bull, newcomer, aboriginal, American, Caledonian, Cambrian, Canadian, Canuck, downeaster, Scot, Scotchman, Hibernian, Irishman, Welshman, Uncle Sam, Yankee, Brother Jonathan, garrison, crew, population, people, colony, settlement, household, mir, indigenous, native, natal, autochthonal, autochthonous, British, English, American, Canadian, Irish, Scotch, Scottish, Welsh, domestic, domiciliated, domiciled, naturalized, vernacular, domesticated, domiciliary, in the occupation of, garrisoned by, occupied by.