Alderman
['ɔːldəmən] or ['ɔldɚmən]
Definition
(noun.) a member of a municipal legislative body (as a city council); 'aldermen usually represent city wards'.
Typist: Robbie--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) A senior or superior; a person of rank or dignity.
(n.) One of a board or body of municipal officers next in order to the mayor and having a legislative function. They may, in some cases, individually exercise some magisterial and administrative functions.
Editor: Wendell
Definition
n. in English and Irish boroughs a civic dignitary next in rank to the mayor.—They are usually chosen for three years; those of London are chosen for life.—The name was assumed incongruously enough for superior members of the county councils set up in England in 1888: in Anglo-Saxon times the governor of a shire until by Canute displaced by the earl; thenceforward any head man of a guild.—adjs. Alderman′ic Al′dermanlike Al′dermanly pompous and portly.
Inputed by Allen
Unserious Contents or Definition
n. An ingenious criminal who covers his secret thieving with a pretence of open marauding.
Typed by Borg
Unserious Contents or Definition
A political office known as the Crook's Road to Wealth. From Eng. all, and Greek derma, meaning skin—'all skin.'
Checker: Virgil
Examples
- The Alderman's very rich, isn't he? William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- My son, Major Dobbin, the Alderman said, with some hesitation, despatched me a letter by an officer of the --th, who arrived in town to-day. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- A fool by right of descent, answered the Jester; I am Wamba, the son of Witless, who was the son of Weatherbrain, who was the son of an Alderman. Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- The Alderman placed the letter on the table, and Osborne stared at him for a moment or two in silence. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- An alderman about to be mayor must by-and-by enlarge his dinner-parties, but at present there were plenty of guests at his well-spread table. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- How is the worthy alderman, and my lady, your excellent mother, sir? William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- One notable afternoon was that on which the New York board of aldermen took a special train out to Menlo Park to see the lighting system with its conductors underground in operation. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- The laboratory witnessed high times that night, for all were in the best of humor, and many a bottle was drained in toasting the health of Edison and the aldermen. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
Inputed by Jill