burgessdomn.
/ˈbəːdʒᵻsdəm/, U.S. /ˈbərdʒəsdəm/ Chiefly historical in later use.
The state or fact of being a burgess; the body of burgesses in a particular borough; burgess-ship.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabitant > inhabitant according to environment > town- or city-dweller > [noun] > esp. as having civic rights
burgess?c1225
citizena1325
commoner1384
citinerc1450
in-burgess1479
burgher?1555
bourgeoisie1593
bourgeois1604
burgessdom1661
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabitant > inhabitant according to environment > town- or city-dweller > [noun] > esp. as having civic rights > collectively
commona1382
commons1384
burgessdom1661
community1700
1661 in G. Parsloe Minute Bk. Bedford Corporation (1949) (modernized text) 143 It is agreed that Henry Peirce shall be admitted of the Guild and received into the Town Freedom and Burgessdom.
1668 in Numismatic Jrnl. (1837) 1 150 Edward Veale and Robert Paulin having..came [sic] to be sworn of the burgessdom.
1876 R. Black tr. F. Guizot Hist. France V. lx. 509 It is in France that the people of the commons, the burgessdom, became most completely, most powerfully developed.
1885 J. Brown Bunyan 329 Fifty-three persons were at one stroke admitted to the burgessdom of the town.
1917 W. J. Locke Red Planet xvi. 191 The little folk in high office, in smug burgessdom, in seditious factory and shipyard.
1989 R. Howell in A. L. Beier et al. First Mod. Society xii. 453 In December 1647, it had restricted admission to burgessdom in the town [of Bedford].
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2013; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1661