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.

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 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).