Forms: 3–5 burgeis, -eys, borgeis, -eys, -es, 3–7 burges, (4 burgas(e, buries, -eys, ? boryeis), 4–5 bourgeis, -eys, (burias, -jase, -iays, 5 burgens, bergeys), 5–6 burgeois(e, 5– burgess. In ME. the pl. was generally the same as the sing., as still in F. bourgeois. [ME. burgeis, a. OF. burgeis:—late L. burgēnsis: see BOURGEOIS.]
1. An inhabitant of a borough; strictly, one possessing full municipal rights; a citizen, freeman of a borough.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 168. Hit is beggares rihte uorte beren bagge on bac; & burgeises for to beren purses.
1297. R. Glouc., 540. The borgeis anon The ȝates made aȝen him.
c. 1340. Ayenb., 162. Ane yongne boryeis and ane newene kniȝt … Þe borgeys wylneþ to chapfari.
c. 1380. Sir Ferumb., 444. At Perigot ich was y-bore; a borgeys dude me gete.
c. 1420. Sir Amadace, xxv. Mony a riche burias.
c. 1532. Ld. Berners, Huon, 560. He logyd in a notable burgesse howse.
1571. Jrnls. Ho. Commons, I. 84. The Bill for the Validity of Burgesses non resiant.
1651. Baxter, Inf. Bapt., 243. Every Burgess at age … hath power to trade, and bear office, in the City.
1727. Swift, Poison. E. Curll, Wks. 1755, III. I. 150. All persons of honour, lords spiritual and temporal, gentry, burgesses and commonalty.
1862. Municip. Corp. Act 45–6 Vict., l. § 7. In this Act Burgess includes Citizen.
1876. Grant, Burgh Sch. Scot., II. ix. 288. In every burgh of Scotland, schools have been founded for instructing the children of Burgesses.
b. spec. One elected to represent his fellow-citizens in parliament; the member of parliament for a borough, corporate town, or university. Now only technical and Hist. The same term was used in some of the American colonies (as Virginia) to denote the representatives sent by the towns to the legislative body, which was called the ‘House of Burgesses.’
1472. J. Paston, in Lett., 701, III. 55. Ther be a doseyn townys in Inglond that chesse no bergeys, whyche ought to do.
1554. Jrnls. Ho. Commons, I. 29. Examine the case of Mr. Foster, Burgess elect.
1648. Art. Peace, xvii. in Milton’s Wks. (1851), II. The said Citizens … shall be enabled … to choose and return Burgesses into the same Parliament.
1697. Blair, in Perry, Hist. Coll. Amer. Col. Ch., I. 18. In Elections of Burgesses for the General Assembly, or in the choosing a speaker for the House of Burgesses.
1702. Lond. Gaz., No. 3840/1. One of the Burgesses for the University.
1863. H. Cox, Instit., I. iii. 13. Writs addressed … to cities and boroughs for sending burgesses.
† 2. spec. A magistrate or member of the governing body of a town. Used as an official title (with varying signification) in certain English boroughs before the Municipal Reform Act of 1835.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 16060. Pilat satt, and him a-butte Þe burges [v.r. burgeises] o þe tun.
1483. Caxton, Gold. Leg., 113/1. The burgeyses that were in their gownes and mantellis … called their seruantes.
1591. Lambarde, Archeion (1635), 38. Sheriffes, Coroners, Hundreders, Burgesses, Serjeants, and Beadles, have their Courts within every their particular limits.
1613. R. C., Table Alph. (ed. 3), Burgesse, a head man of a towne.
1766. Entick, London, IV. 401. There are also 16 burgesses and their assistants, whose office … resembles that of an alderman’s deputy in London.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., II. 205. Belfast … is … governed by a Sovereign and 12 Burgesses.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xvi. III. 616. He was welcomed at the North Gate [of Belfast, in 1690] by the magistrates and burgesses in their robes of office.
† 3. transf. and fig. Said of a man or animal: Freeman, free denizen (of). Obs.
1580. Sidney, Arcadia (1622), 368. No other companions then the wild burgesses of the forrest.
1616. Beaum. & Fl., Cust. Country, II. i. (L.). Twenty years have I liv’d A Burgess of the Sea.
c. 1630. in Risdon, Surv. Devon, § 308 (1810), 315. The deer securely stood, And walk’d a burgess of the wood.
4. a. attrib.
1836. Penny Cycl., V. 207/2. An alphabetical list, to be called ‘The Burgess List.’ Ibid., 197/2. The watchword of the burgess population.
1881. G. MacGregor, Hist. Glasgow, xi. 97. The burgess class was subdivided into merchants and craftsmen.
b. Comb., as † burgess-man, -wife; also burgess-roll, the register or official list of burgesses in a borough; † burgess-ticket, a certificate of burgess-ship; † burgess-town (see quot.).
1540. Sir W. Eure, in Hone, Every-day Bk., II. 15. A king, a bushop, a *burges man, armed in harness.
1836. Penny Cycl., V. 208/1. To cause the *burgess-roll to be made out in alphabetical lists of the burgesses.
1657. Colvil, Whig’s Supplic. (1751), 56. Beside her loss of *burgess ticket.
1682. Wheler, Journ. Greece, VI. 448. [It] was reckoned one of the … *Burgess-Towns of the Athenians.
1483. Caxton, Cato, B vij. A good *bourgeys wyf and wel beloued of her husbond.
c. 1550. Scot. Poems 16th C., II. 192. With burges wifes they led their liues.
