alderman
(ˈɔːldəmən)
Forms: 1–2 aldormann (late WS. ealdor-), 3 allderrmann, aldurmon, 4 elder-, heldar-, aldur-, aldreman, 5 aldir-, aldyr-, 4– alderman. (8–9 Historical ealderman, ealdorman.)
[f. OE. aldor (ealdor): see alder n.2 + man, i.e. the man who occupied the position held in an earlier stage of society by the aldor, patriarch or chief of the clan.
The aldor (or ealdor) was thus a natural rank, the aldorman its political equivalent. But the distinction necessarily faded away; the Northumbrian and Mercian Gospel glosses constantly have aldorman for the WSax. ealdor, and in WSax. itself ealdorman differed from ealdor solely in its more restricted and technical use.]
1. A senior, signor, superior, ruler; a noble or person of high rank.
In OE. the special title of one exercising authority under the king, over a former kingdom, as Mercia, a district, or county; a viceroy or lord-lieutenant. Used also to translate Lat. princeps, subregulus, optimas, satrapa, dux, comes, præpositus; and, in a more general sense, many other words, as pontifex, architriclinus, presbyter, senator, etc. The special title was mostly supplanted by earl under the Danish dynasty; the more general sense continued for several centuries, and gave rise to 2 and 3. For the OE. title, recent historical writers have used the late West-Saxon and Kentish ealdorman; but the general OE. form was aldormann.
a. As O.E. title.
| 750 O.E. Chron. (Parker MS.) Her Cuþred cyning ᵹefeaht uuiþ æþelhun þone ofermedan aldorman. c 855 Ibid. an. 495 Her cuomon tweᵹen aldor-men on Bretene, Cerdic and Cynric his sunu. 894 Ibid. æþered ealdormon, and æþelm ealdorman, and æþelnoþ ealdorman, and þa cinges þeᵹnas. 1205 Layam. 1420 Numbert hehte þe alder mon, Þe sculde þas ernde don. 1591 Lambarde Arch. (1635) 249 Before the divisions of the Realms into Shires, every large territorie had an Alderman, or Governour. 1599 Thynne Animadv. (1865) 33 Brightnothus, aldermanne, erle, or duke, of northumberlande. 1761 Hume Hist. Eng. I. App. i. 93 The Aldermen, or governors of counties, who after the Danish times, were often called Earls. 1839 Keightley Hist. Eng. I. 76 After the Danish conquest, the title of Ealdorman was changed for that of Earl. 1862 Ld. Brougham Brit. Const. x. 136 The Earl, Eorlderman, or Governor of the county. 1876 Freeman Norm. Conq. I. iii. 75 The chieftains of the first settlers in our island bore no higher title than Ealdorman or Heretoga. |
b. As translation of foreign titles = alder n.2
| c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. John ii. 8 Brengeð ðæm aldormen [Ags. & Hatton G. ealdre; Vulg. architriclino]. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. xx. 21 Ealdormenn wealdað hyra þeoda [L. & R. aldormenn; Vulg. principes]. c 1200 Ormin 14061 And son se þatt bridgume comm, Þatt allderrmann himm seȝȝde. 1387 Trevisa Higden Rolls Ser. IV. 313 Tiberius exilede many of þe aldermen [i.e. of the senators]. c 1394 P. Pl. Crede 691 Aungells & Arcangells..And alle Aldermen, þat bene ante tronum. c 1550 Cheke Matt. xxvii. 1 Al ye hedpriestes and ye aldermen of y⊇ people, took councel again Jesus. 1618 Bolton Florus i. i. (1636) 6 Called..for their antiquitie, ‘Senators,’ or Aldermen. |
† 2. The headman, ruler, governor, or warden of a guild. Obs.
| 1130 Pipe Roll 31 Hen. I, Ut sit aldermannus in Gilda Mercatorum [at York]. 1180 Admerciamenta de Gildis adulterinis (Madox Hist. Excheq. 490) Gilda unde Goscelinus est Aldermannus. 1316 E.E. Gilds xxviii. 73 Be þe ordinaunce of þe Alderman and of þe gilde breþeren. 1368 Ibid. xx. 55 If ani broþer be ded wit-owten þe toun, þe aldirman xal do þe belleman gon for þe soule. 1494 Ibid. 188 The Alderman of the seid Gilde shalbe at Seynt Katerynis Chapell aforeseid, with all his Bredern. 1649 Selden Laws of Eng. i. xxxiii. (1739) 50 By custom they grew to be Fraternities, or Corporations under one Magistrate or Head, whom they called Alderman. |
3. Since the guilds became identified with the corporation or ruling municipal body: A magistrate in English and Irish cities and boroughs, next in dignity to the mayor; properly, as in London, the chief officer of a ward.
| c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 55 On him rixleð lichamliche wil, alse eldrene man on his burh. 1229 Lib. de Ant. Leg. 6 Omnes aldermanni et magnates civitatis per assensum universorum civium. c 1330 Arth. & Merl. 5105 The alder man Ich with his ward cam. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 372 Euerich for the wisdom þat he kan Was shaply for to been an Alderman [v.r. aldirman, aldurman]. 1428 in Heath Grocers' Comp. (1869) 7 For the fyrste dynner imade in the parlore to oure Aldermen..{pstlg}5 6s. 8d. 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, iii. vii. 66 The Maior and Aldermen..Are come to haue some conference with his Grace. 1611 Cotgr. s.v. Abbé, Alderman's pace, a leasurely walking, slow gate. 1629 Gaule Holy Madn. 94 What an Alderman's pace he comes. 1667 E. Chamberlayne Gt. Brit. i. 201 The 26 Aldermen preside over the 26 Wards of the City [of London]. All the Aldermen that have been Lord-Mayors, and the three eldest Aldermen that have not yet arrived to that honourable Estate, are by their Charter Justices of the Peace. 1784 Cowper Sofa 61 Elbows still were wanting; these some say, An alderman of Cripplegate contrived. 1878 Stubbs Const. Hist. III. 565 The title of alderman, which had once belonged to the heads of the several guilds, was transferred to the magistrates of the several wards into which the town was divided, or to the sworn assistants of the mayor, in the cases in which no such division was made. |
† 4. ‘Formerly, there were also Aldermen of Hundreds.’ Chambers Cycl. 1751.
| 1596 Spenser State of Irel. 107 When I come to appoint the Alderman, that is the head of the Hundreth. |
5. slang. a. (See quots.)
| 1782 G. Parker Hum. Sketches 31 Nick often eat a roast fowl and sausage with me, which in cant, is called an Alderman double slang'd. 1859 Lord W. Lennox Pict. Sporting Life I. vi. 169 A turkey, garnished with sausages—technically termed, an alderman hung in chains. |
† b. = jemmy n. 6. Obs.
| 1872 Diprose London & London Life xxi. 159 The ‘alderman’..is a ‘head bar’, which would open any safe. The smaller bars were called ‘citizens’. 1883 Standard 14 May 5/8 A complete set of safebreaking tools had been ..left behind, including wedges, an ‘alderman’, a jemmy. |