baron

views updated Jun 27 2018

baron a member of the lowest order of the British nobility. Baron is not used as a form of address, barons usually being referred to as ‘Lord’. Also, a similar member of a foreign nobility.

Recorded from Middle English, baron comes via Old French from medieval Latin baro, baron- ‘warrior’, and is probably of Germanic origin.


baron of beef a joint of beef consisting of two sirloins joined at the backbone. The term is first recorded in Samuel Johnson's Dictionary (1755).
baron of the Cinque Ports in historical usage, a freeman of the cinque ports, who had feudal service of bearing the canopy over the head of the sovereign on the day of coronation; also, until the Reform Bill of 1832, a burgess returned by these ports to Parliament.
Barons' War the English civil war of 1264–7 between forces led by Henry III and Simon de Montfort respectively.

baron

views updated Jun 11 2018

bar·on / ˈbarən/ • n. a member of the lowest order of the British nobility. ∎  a similar member of a foreign nobility. ∎ hist. a person who held lands or property from the sovereign or a powerful overlord. ∎  an important or powerful person in a specified business or industry: a press baron.

baron

views updated May 29 2018

baron XII. — AN. barun, (O)F. baron :- medL. barō, barōnem man, male, warrior, of Gmc. orig. For ‘baron of beef’ Cf. SIRLOIN.
So baronage XIII. ME. barnage — OF. barnage, medL. baronagium. baroness XV. — OF. baronesse (AL. -issa). baronet XIV (mod. title instituted 1611). — AL. barōnettus. barony XIII. — OF. baronie (AL. -ia).