ˈstadholdership
[f. stadholder + -ship.]
1. The office or dignity of a stadholder.
| 1668 Lond. Gaz. No. 238/3 The Deputies from the States General sent into Vriesland about the business of the Stateholdership. 1673 H. Stubbe Further Vind. Dutch War To Rdr. 7 The Election of Great Maurice to the said Stateholdership was purely a provincial act. a 1715 Burnet Own Time (1724) I. 273 To try what offices the King would do in order to his advancement to the Stadtholdership. 1723 Lond. Gaz. No. 6153/1 The Stadtholdership of that Province. 1837 Foreign Q. Rev. XIX. 173 The maintenance of the stadtholdership in the Netherlands. 1913 J. Willcock Sir H. Vane xii. 203 During the time of his minority the Statthaltership was in abeyance. |
† 2. A district ruled by a stadholder. Obs.
| 1811 Pinkerton Mod. Geog. (ed. 3) 142 Of these twenty-three provinces [of Russia], forty-two stadtholderships were formed. |