bailiwick
(ˈbeɪlɪwɪk)
Forms: 5–9 bayly-, bally-, bayli-, baili-, bali-, baily-, bayl-, baylie-, baly-, bailly-, bailli-, -weke, -wyke, -wick(e, -wik(e (more than 20 forms).
[f. bailie + -wick: see also bailiffwick.]
1. a. A district or place under the jurisdiction of a bailie or bailiff. Used in Eng. Hist. as a general term including sheriffdom; and applied to foreign towns or districts under a vogt or bailli.
| c 1460 Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. (1714) 123 A mean Bayliff may do more in his Bayly-Weke. 1574 tr. Littleton's Tenures 51 a, By the othe of xii true men of hys bayliwike. 1596 Spenser State Irel. Wks. (1862) 553/2 The sheriffe of the shire, whose peculiar office it is to walke up and downe his bayli-wicke. 1678 T. Jones Heart & Right Sov. 88 Our British Isles, which never were within the diocess or bayliwick of Rome. 1759 B. Martin Nat. Hist. Eng. II. 355 A fair Bailiwick and Town corporate. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. II. 305 Berne. This Canton contains 72 bailiwicks. 1862 Ansted Channel Isl. iv. xxiii. 519 Guernsey, Alderney, and Sark, together with Herm..composing the Bailiwick of Guernsey. 1884 Law Rep. Chanc. Div. XXV. 341 The sheriff..made a return..that Mr. S. had no lay fee within his bailiwick. |
b. transf. ‘One's natural or proper place or sphere’ (D.A.). Chiefly U.S.
| 1843 Knickerbocker XXI. 589 A friend..inside the southern division of Mason and Dixon's ‘bailiwick’. 1892 Outing (U.S.) Apr. 16/1 The baggage-man stared a little when we piled our ‘truck’ into his bailiwick. 1911 R. D. Saunders Col. Todhunter ix. 119 I'm skeered to the marrow,..because I'm out o' my bailiwick. 1940 S.P.E. Tract lvi. 216 Bailiwick..has given rise to the common phrase ‘out of one's bailiwick’, i.e. outside of one's natural sphere or function. |
2. The office or jurisdiction of a bailie or a bailiff. (Now only Hist.)
| 1494 Fabyan vii. 528 The offyce of ballywyke. a 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Jas. V Wks. (1711) 88 A suit..about the ballywick of Jedburgh-forrest. 1687 N. Johnston Assur. Abbey Lands 69 Other Ecclesiastical Benefices, Provost-ships, Baly-wicks, Commendams, Canon-ships, etc. 1875 Stubbs Const. Hist. II. xvii. 557 No gift of land, franchise..or bailiwick should be made. |
† 3. Stewardship. (Cf. bailieship.) Obs.
| 1550 Crowley Epigr. 1257 Christe shall saie at the laste daye, Geve accounts of your baliwickes. 1601 Dent Pathw. Heaven (1603) 171 To give an account of our bailywicke. |
4. Comb. bailiwick-town, a town under the jurisdiction of a bailiff; the chief town of a hundred.
| 1675 Ogilby Brit. 172 Hexham..is at present a well-built Bailiwick Town. 1724 De Foe, etc. Tour Gt. Brit. (1769) III. 241 The Bailiwick-town of Hexham. |