borsholder Obs. exc. Hist.
(ˈbɔːshəʊldə(r))
Also 6 borsolder, 6–8 bosholder, 7 bursholder, 9 in historical writers bors-, borhs-ealdor.
[The spelling borghesaldre in the AF. Statutes of the Realm (I. 223) points to OE. *borᵹes aldor, f. borᵹes, gen. case of borh (borrow n. 3) + alder n.2 Not connected with borough.]
The chief of a tithing (borrow n. 3) or frank-pledge; afterwards a parish officer identical in functions with the Petty Constable (= borrowhead, headborough, tithingman). (Also fig.)
| 1536 Act 28 Hen. VIII, x, Euery..hedborowe, thyrd⁓borowe, borsholder, and euery other lay officer. 1609 E. Hoby Letter to T.H. 3, I dispatched this paper, as my Borsholder. 1618 Dalton Country Just. in Halliwell Shaks. VI. 324 There be other officers of much like authority to our constables, as the borsholders in Kent, the third⁓borow in Warwickshire, and the tythingman and burrow⁓head, or headborow, or chiefe-pledge in other places. 1678 Lond. Gaz. No. 1357/1 His Majesty doth hereby strictly Charge all Constables, Churchwardens, Headboroughs, Tythingmen, Borsholders, and other Parish Officers. 1768 Blackstone Comm. I. 356 The antient headboroughs, tithing-men, and borsholders, were made use of to serve as petty constables. 1857 Toulm. Smith Parish 15 Elsewhere, the name headborough, and elsewhere that of borsholder, was and is in use. 1872 E. Robertson Hist. Ess. 114 The..Parish Constable and beadle, representatives of the Borh's Ealdor and the Bode or messenger of the Court. |