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bailiwick

 - 3 dictionary results

bail⋅i⋅wick

  [bey-luh-wik]
Use bailiwick in a Sentence
–noun
1. the district within which a bailie or bailiff has jurisdiction.
2. a person's area of skill, knowledge, authority, or work: to confine suggestions to one's own bailiwick.
Origin:
1425–75; late ME, equiv. to baili- bailie + wick wick 3

Synonyms:
2. domain, department, sphere, territory, turf.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To bailiwick
bail·i·wick   (bā'lə-wĭk')   
n.  

  1. A person's specific area of interest, skill, or authority. See Synonyms at field.

  2. The office or district of a bailiff.


[Middle English bailliwik : baillif, bailiff; see bailiff + wik, town (from Old English wīc, from Latin vīcus; see vicinity).]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

bailiwick 
"district of a bailiff," 1460, from bailiff (q.v.) + O.E. wic "village" (see wick (2)). Fig. sense of "one's natural or proper sphere" is first recorded 1843.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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