See Also: alderman(dictionary)
alderman(dictionary)
ALDERMAN(law)

alderman (iou)



alderman noun. Also (Hist.) ealdorman. Pl. -men.
[Old English aldormann, from aldor, ealdor chief, prince (formed as OLD adjective) + MAN noun.]
A man of noble or high rank. Long obsolete exc. Hist. OE.
The chief officer or warden of a guild. Long obsolete exc. Hist. OE.
Chiefly Hist. A magistrate of a borough; a municipal officer next in dignity to a mayor, for a long time (and still in the City of London) representing a ward, more recently (up to 1974) a co-opted member of an English or Welsh county or borough council; N. Amer. & Austral. an elected member of a city council. (The status and conditions of appointment of aldermen have varied with time and place.) OE.
honorary alderman: a title which, since 1974, can be given to past English or Welsh councillors.
alder'manic adjective of, pertaining to, or like an alderman M18.
alder'manity noun (rare) (a) joc. aldermanship; (b) the body of aldermen: E17.
aldermanlike adjective resembling (that of) an alderman E17.
aldermanly adjective like, or becoming to, an alderman E18.
aldermanry noun (a) Hist. a district having its own alderman; (b) the dignity or rank of an alderman: LME.
aldermanship noun the office, position, or quality of an alderman LME.
alderwoman noun (rare) (a) an alderman's wife; (b) N. Amer. a female alderman: M16.