Dictionary
Thesaurus
Reference
Translate
Web
Viscount - 4 dictionary results

vis⋅count

[vahy-kount]
–noun
1. a nobleman next below an earl or count and next above a baron.
2. History/Historical. a deputy of a count or earl.
3. (in England) a sheriff.

Origin:
1350–1400; ME viscounte < AF; OF visconte (F vicomte), equiv. to vis vice 3 + counte count 2 , trans. ML vicecomes
vis·count   (vī'kount')   
n.  
  1. A nobleman ranking below an earl or count and above a baron.
  2. Abbr. Visct. or Vis. or V. Used as a title for such a nobleman.

[Middle English, from Old French visconte, from Medieval Latin vicecomes, vicecomit- : Late Latin vice-, vice- + Late Latin comes, occupant of any state office; see count2.]

Viscount

Vis"count`\, n. [OE. vicounte, OF. visconte, vescunte, F. vicomte, LL. vicecomes; L. vice (see Vice, a.) + comes a companion, LL., a count. See Count.]

1. (O. Eng. Law) An officer who formerly supplied the place of the count, or earl; the sheriff of the county.

2. A nobleman of the fourth rank, next in order below an earl and next above a baron; also, his degree or title of nobility. See Peer, n., 3. [Eng.] --Chaucer.
Language Translation for : Viscount
Spanish: vizconde,
German: der Vicomte,
Japanese: 子爵

viscount 
1387, "deputy of a count or earl," from Anglo-Fr. and O.Fr. visconte, from M.L. vicecomes (gen. vicecomitis), from L.L. vice- "deputy" (see vice-) + L. comes "member of an imperial court, nobleman" (see count (n.)). As a rank in British peerage, first recorded 1440, when John, Baron Beaumont, was made one by Henry VI.
Search another word or see Viscount on Thesaurus | Reference