▪ I. baron
(ˈbærən)
Forms: 2–4 barun, 4 barune, baroune, 4–6 baroun, -own, 5 baroone, barrown, 6 barroun, barne, 7 barron, 3– baron.
[Early ME. barun, -oun, a. OF. barun, -on, acc. of ber (= Pr. bar, acc. barón, baró, Sp. varon, Pg. varão, It. barone):—late L. baro, -ōnem, of which the ordinary sense was ‘man’ (interchanging in Salic Law with homo), esp. in relation to some one else, as when we say ‘the king's man,’ passing on one side into ‘servant, vassal,’ on another into ‘man as opposed to slave, freeman,’ also as opposed to wife ‘husband,’ as opposed to female ‘male.’ Isidore explains Mercenarii, as ‘qui serviunt accepta mercede, iidem et barones Graeco nomine, quod sint fortes in laboribus,’ (connecting it with βαρύς); Cornutus (on Persius Sat. v.) explains barones (to which he attributes a Gaulish origin) as ‘servos militum, qui utique stultissimi sunt, servos videlicet stultorum.’ This seems to point to the cl. L. bāro, -ōnem ‘simpleton, blockhead, dunce’; but there is nothing else to show whether this is the same word as baro ‘man.’ The laws of the Alemanns have in the same sense barus: if this were the original form, baro would be an augmentative.
The ulterior origin is unknown. It has been conjecturally referred to a Celtic *bar ‘hero’ (which seems a figment); OHG. bero:—OTeut. *beron- ‘bearer, carrier’; a hypothetical Teut. *bar-, with same sense; OE. beorn, ‘warrior, brave, hero’; and Teut. barn ‘bairn, child’; of which some are purely hypothetical, and others fail to explain the form or sense, or both.]
1. Hist. Originally, one who held, by military or other honourable service, from the king or other superior; afterwards restricted to the former or king's barons, and at length mostly applied to the greater of these (the Great Barons) who personally attended the Great Council, or, from the time of Henry III, were summoned by writ to Parliament; hence, a lord of Parliament, a noble, a peer.
Historically, all who held directly from the king were barons by tenure, such of these as were summoned to Parliament were barons by writ.
| c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 177 Þe wraððe of kinges and of barones bringen on þe folkes heorte grete stormes. 1205 Lay. 5319 ælcches barunes sune. c 1275 in O.E. Misc. 92 Seynt Thomas wes biscop and barunes him quolde. 1297 R. Glouc. 511 The barons sende to the king Philip of France, That he hom sende socour. a 1300 Cursor M. 13028 Iohn..come right to herods hame Bifor his barounes euerilkane. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. vii. 123 Thus beggers and barouns at debat aren ofte. 1485 Caxton Chas. Gt. 144 The Admyral is wyth hys pryncypal barons at souper. 1577 Harrison England ii. v. (1877) 107 The baron is such a free lord as hath a lordship or baronie, whereof he beareth his name. 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iv. iii. 66 The Lords and Barons of the Realme. 1603 Drayton (title) The Barrons War. 1614 Selden Titles Hon. 274 Which makes me think that, before Henry III., as well Barons of Earls as the King's Barons came to Parliament. 1641 Milton Ch. Govt. Wks. (1851) 131 Cling fast to your Pontificall Sees..quit yourselves like Barons. 1768 Blackstone Comm. I. i. xii. 310 A baron's is the most general and universal title of nobility. 1782 Priestley Corrupt. Chr. II. x. 259 [Bishops] though churchmen..actually were barons. 1799 J. Robertson Agric. Perth. 40 A proprietor holding immediately of the crown, and having his lands either erected or confirmed by the king into a free barony..is the only person, in strict law, denominated a baron. 1835 Penny Cycl. III. 487/1 Lesser Barons, or Barons of the Barons. Ibid. 489/2 Burford in Shropshire is also called a barony, and its former lords..were called, in instruments of authority, barons of Burford, but had never summons to parliament nor privileges of peerage. 1863 Cox Inst. Eng. Govt. i. vii. 65 The council of the king was a council of barons. 1876 Freeman Norm. Conq. V. xxiv. 412 The Barons of England, a name made dear to us by the great struggle of the thirteenth century. |
2. a. A specific order or rank, being the lowest grade of nobility.
From the earliest period we find baron distinguished from earl, as the designation of an untitled military tenant; the name may be considered to have itself become a title, as distinct from a description of feudal relationship or of parliamentary privilege, with the creation of barons by patent, which began in the reign of Richard II.
| a 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 35 Ne to kinge.ne to eorle.ne to barun. 1280 Signs bef. Judgm. in E.E.P. (1862) 10 Boþe kniȝt and barun.erl.and king. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xiii. 165 Neyther emperour ne emperesse, erl, kynge, ne baroun. c 1500 Lancelot 1684 Thi dukis, erlis, and thi gret baronis, Thi pur knychtis, and thi bachleris. a 1674 Clarendon Hist. Reb. I. i. 10 In a short time..he was made a Baron. 1690 Temple Heroic Virt. Wks. 1731 I. 218 By Barons are now meant in England, such as are created by Patent, and thereby called to the House of Lords. 1790 Burke Fr. Rev. Wks. V. 44 A sermon from..a noble earl, or baron bold. 1884 Lond. Gaz. 4 Nov., The Queen has been pleased to direct letters patent to be passed under the Great Seal, granting the dignity of a Baron of the United Kingdom and Ireland unto the undermentioned persons. |
b. A magnate in commerce, finance, or the like; a great merchant in a certain commodity, usu. defined by a qualifying word, as beef baron, coal baron. (Cf. king n. 6 a.) orig. U.S.
| [1776 J. Adams Familiar Lett. (1876) 154 But the spirit of these Barons [sc. North Carolina gentry] is coming down, and it must submit.] 1818 Niles' Reg. XIV. 226/1 The name of a Jew and ‘rag-baron’ is synonimous. 1885 Century Mag. Sept. 804 Who is responsible for [the depression]?.. Is it the ‘silver barons’ or the ‘gold bugs’? 1887 Harper's Mag. Apr. 822/1 When the great ‘coal barons’..deliberately combine to put up the price of coal. 1894 J. L. Ford Lit. Shop (1896) iv. 46 Magazine barons. 1902 Westm. Gaz. 17 May 5/2 Nearly 150,000 coalminers are on strike in the anthracite region of Pennsylvania... The coal barons have built barricades and barbed wire fences around the shafts. 1904 ‘O. Henry’ Cabbages & Kings 4 A rubber prince, a sarsaparilla, indigo, and mahogany baron. 1907 Westm. Gaz. 20 Dec. 9/4 The American beef barons, Armour's, Swift's, and Morris, are..the greatest captains of commerce in any market. 1932 Ann. Reg. 1931 15 The ‘money barons’ were using the whole of their influence to restrict the raising of money for national development. 1932 Wodehouse Louder & Funnier 24 A couple of great film barons. 1947 J. Hayward Prose Lit. since 1939 47 Newspaper barons and film magnates have shown that it is not difficult to bend authors to their own desires. 1958 Listener 18 Dec. 1030/2 He became one of those barons who advance their fortunes under the slogan of National Trade. |
c. Applied gen. to a person having power or influence in any sphere; in Prison slang: see quot. 1950.
| 1876 R. L. Stevenson Walking Tours in Cornh. Mag. June 687 The great barons of the mind will not rally to the standard. 1919 Athenæum 15 Aug. 759/1 Slang in War-time... Baron, army commander. 1950 P. Tempest Lag's Lexicon 10 A baron is one who always has plenty of money and/or tobacco. 1958 F. Norman Bang to Rights i. 23 If people can't be barons with out going around punching little geezers up in the air. 1959 Listener 10 Dec. 1050/1 A round dozen barons of the microscope, from Cambridge, London, Edinburgh, Paris, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, California, Moscow. |
† 3. Anciently applied to the freemen of London, York, and some other places, who were homagers of the king, bound to suit and service; applied till the 18th c. to the freemen of the Cinque Ports, who had the feudal service of bearing the canopy over the head of the sovereign on the day of coronation; and, till the Reform Bill of 1832, to the burgesses returned by these ports to Parliament. Obs.
| [a 1259 Matt. Paris (in Spelman) Londonienses quos..Barones consuevimus appellare.] 1598 Hakluyt Voy. I. 17 Writs..directed..to the Bailifes of Hastings, Hithe, Rumney, Douer, and Sandwich, commanding them, that they should cause twentie and foure of their Barons (for so their Burgesses, or townesmen, and the citizens of London likewise, were wont to be termed) to appeare. 1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, iv. i. 48 They that beare The Cloath of Honour ouer her, are foure Barons Of the Cinque-Ports. 1641 Harl. Misc. (Malh.) V. 49 They choose the knights and citizens, and burgesses, or barons, for so the citizens were anciently called; and the cinque-ports retain that name to this day. 1702 Lond. Gaz. No. 3804/1 Then the Queen..under a Canopy born by twelve Barons of the Cinque-Ports. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., Barons of the cinque ports, are members of the house of commons elected by the five ports, two for each port. 1861 Times 29 Aug., ‘Baron’ in London and in the Cinque Ports was but another name for ‘freeman.’ |
4. Title of the judges of the Court of Exchequer (the president being the Chief Baron). (As to origin of this, see quot. 1751.)
| [1130 Pipe Roll 31 Hen. I, Barones Scaccarii.] 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. iii. 319 Al shal be but one Courte, and one baroun be iustice. 1502 Arnold Chron. 41 The Tresourer and Barnes and other Ministers of the cheker. 1556 Chron. Grey Friars (1852) 71 Theys ware the commyshoners,—the lorde cheffe barne, doctor Olyver, &c. 1751 Chambers Cycl. s.v., Barons of the exchequer..are called Barons, because Barons of the realm were used to be employed in that office. 1827 Hallam Const. Hist. (1876) II. xi. 360 The barons of the exchequer..were to issue process. 1884 Oliver and Boyd's Almanac 541 Ireland..Her Majesty's Court of Appeal, the Lord Chancellor, the Lord Chief Justice..the Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer. |
5. Law and Her. (conjoined with feme, femme): Husband.
| [1292 Britton ii. iii. §6 Ne femmes espouses sauntz lour barouns.] 1594 Parsons Confer. Success. ii. iv. 92 If a baron match with a femme that is an inheretrix. 1611 J. Guillim Heraldry v. i. 254 The bearing of the Armes of the Femme by the Baron after issue receiued by her. 1678 Lond. Gaz. No. 1332/4 Baron and Feme in the first six coats quartered. 1845 Stephen Laws of Eng. II. 238 Husband and wife, or, as most of our elder law books call them, baron and feme. 1862 Burton Bk. Hunter ii. 132 Baron and feme we call husband and wife, and coverture we term marriage. |
6. As a foreign title (giving no rank or privileges in Britain).
e.g. Baron Rothschild, Baron de Worms.
‖ 7. In foreign use applied in respect or honour to any man, also to Christ and the saints.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 16876 Ioseph, þat god barune. 1534 Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) C v, Comode Calcedonien, an auncient baron whiche expounded to hym Homer. 1867 Longfellow Dante's Parad. xxv. 17 Look, look! behold the Baron [St. James of Compostella], for whom below Galicia is frequented. |
8. Baron of Beef [of unknown origin; possibly a distinct word]: a joint consisting of two sirloins left uncut at the backbone.
| 1755 in Johnson (quoted from some earlier Dict.), Baron of Beef is when the two sirloins are not cut asunder, but joined together by the end of the backbone. 1822 W. Kitchiner Cook's Orac. Introd., The Baron of Beef was another favorite and substantial support of Old English Hospitality. a 1859 L. Hunt Rob. Hood iv. xvi, A bishop was a baron of beef With cut and come again. 1864 Times 24 Dec., On Thursday the Royal ‘baron of beef’ was roasted, under the superintendence of Mr. Godfrey, the Queen's cook. |
9. Comb. baron-bailie (Sc.), a bailie or magistrate appointed by the lord-superior in a burgh of barony. Hence baron-bailie-court, baron-court, the court of justice held by a baron in his barony. (See also court-baron.)
| 1753 Stewart's Trial App. 145, I intend..to hold a Baron-balie-court on the estate of Ardshiel. 1813 N. Carlisle Topogr. Dict. Scot. II, The Baron-Baillie Court of Macleod, the Chief, is the only Court of Justice in the Parish. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xxvii, There was a Baron Court to be held at Loanhead that day, and..he was acquainted with the baron-bailie. |
▪ II. baron
obs. form of barn, bairn.