burgess

/ˈbʌrdʒəs/

Other forms: burgesses

Historically, a burgess was an important citizen. A free, male inhabitant of a medieval English borough was known as a burgess.

A burgess was originally a fairly ordinary citizen, and the word shares a root with the French bourgeois, "member of the middle class." In England, it came to mean an elected official, or someone who represents a borough in the House of Commons. The American Colonies of Virginia and Maryland adopted a similar use of burgess, establishing a House of Burgess where elected representatives governed alongside a British-appointed governor.

Definitions of burgess

1. noun

   a citizen of an English borough
   synonyms: burgher

   type of:

   Englishman

   a man who is a native or inhabitant of England
2. noun

   (historical) a member of the British Parliament from a borough, university, or corporate town
   type of:

   Member of Parliament, Parliamentarian

   an elected member of the British Parliament: a member of the House of Commons
3. noun

   a representative in the lower house of the colonial legislature in Maryland or Virginia
   type of:

   legislator

   someone who makes or enacts laws