borough
/ˈbʌrə
/noun
1A town or district which is an administrative unit, in particular:But modern life has moved beyond such administrative units as boroughs and as a result, the need for wardens has diminished....
- Wroughton Junior School was the borough's unit for dyslexia.
- He said: ‘It's utterly incredulous that any council will actually just decide that it fancies dumping its problems on its neighbouring districts and boroughs.’
1.1British A town (as distinct from a city) with a corporation and privileges granted by a royal charter.There are 16 places up for grabs on the youth forum, two for each of the county's districts and boroughs....
- And Mr Davis warned that devolution would take power away from local communities and threaten ‘our historic counties, our ancient boroughs and our parishes’.
- Their portion of council tax - being a unitary they set the borough and county parts as one - is 8.9 per cent.
1.2British historical A town sending representatives to Parliament.He received various pensions, grants and sinecures from the crown, was a member of parliament for the borough of Warwick, and frequently served abroad....
- Audley was a lawyer from Essex, who became town clerk of Colchester in 1514 and was elected to Parliament for the borough in 1523.
- In parliamentary boroughs with freeman franchises, the power to bestow the freedom was in effect a power to create electors, a consideration which clearly shaped its use.
1.3An administrative division of London.Avonmore primary, a state school in the London borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, came 19th, with an aggregate score of 266....
- A qualified science teacher with two years experience, Alex Dolan, also filmed at secondary schools in the London borough of Islington.
- Currently operating in a number of London boroughs, the business offers various care packages ranging from a half-hour domestic call to 24-hour personal care plans.
1.4A municipal corporation in certain US states.Erie was incorporated as a borough in 1805, having previously formed a part of Mill Creek Township; divided into two wards in 1840; granted a city charter in 1851; and divided into four wards in 1858....
- Alpine was created as a Bergen County, N.J. borough April 8, 1903 from area taken from Harrington Township.
- Aramingo is a borough crested out of the township of Northern Liberties, incorporated April 11,1850.
1.5Each of five divisions of New York City.The NYPD patrols the five boroughs of New York City....
- The Moveable Museum now travels to schools, community centers, parks, street fairs and other neighborhood organizations throughout the five boroughs of New York City.
- Loan default collections for borrowers in the five boroughs of New York City also will be put on hold automatically until January, Paige said.
1.6(In Alaska) a district corresponding to a county elsewhere in the US.Stretching from the tip of the Alaska Peninsula to the easternmost Aleutian Islands, the Aleutians East Borough is like no other place on earth....
- The Kodiak Island Borough welcomes you to Alaskas beautiful Emerald Isle, its government and services.
- Welcome to the City and Borough of Sitka, Alaska.
Origin
Old English burg, burh 'fortress, citadel', later 'fortified town', of Germanic origin; related to Dutch burg and German Burg. Compare with burgh.
The early words burg and burh meant ‘a fortress’. Later they became ‘a fortified town’ and eventually ‘town’, ‘district’. Burgh is a Scots form. Burgher (mid 16th century) meaning ‘inhabitant of a borough’ was reinforced by Dutch burger, from burg ‘castle’. Bourgeois (late 17th century) adopted from French (from late Latin burgus ‘castle’) is related. An animal's defensive place, its burrow (Middle English) is a variant of borough.