Bur·gessAudio Help (bûr'jĭs) Pronunciation Key
British writer and critic noted for his comic novels, including the futuristic classic A Clockwork Orange (1962).
c.1225, burgeis "citizen of a borough," from O.Fr. burgeis, L.L. burgensis (see bourgeois). Applied from 1472 to borough representatives in Parliament and in Va. and other colonies used to denote members of the legislative body, while in Pa., etc., it meant "member of the governing council of a borough."
Bor"ough\, n. [OE. burgh, burw, boru, port, town, burrow, AS. burh, burg; akin to Icel., Sw., & Dan. borg, OS. & D. burg, OHG. puruc, purc, MHG. burc, G. burg, Goth. ba['u]rgs; and from the root of AS. beorgan to hide, save, defend, G. bergen; or perh. from that of AS. beorg hill, mountain. [root]95. See Bury, v. t., and cf. Burrow, Burg, Bury, n., Burgess, Iceberg, Borrow, Harbor, Hauberk.]1. In England, an incorporated town that is not a city; also, a town that sends members to parliament; in Scotland, a body corporate, consisting of the inhabitants of a certain district, erected by the sovereign, with a certain jurisdiction; in America, an incorporated town or village, as in Pennsylvania and Connecticut. --Burrill. Erskine. 2. The collective body of citizens or inhabitants of a borough; as, the borough voted to lay a tax. Close borough, or Pocket borough, a borough having the right of sending a member to Parliament, whose nomination is in the hands of a single person. Rotten borough, a name given to any borough which, at the time of the passage of the Reform Bill of 1832, contained but few voters, yet retained the privilege of sending a member to Parliament.
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Audio Help [bur-jis] Pronunciation Key 
