zemstvo

[zemst-voh; Russ. zyem-stvuh]

zem·stvo

[zemst-voh; Russ. zyem-stvuh]
noun, plural zem·stvos [zemst-vohz] . Russian History.
one of a system of elected local assemblies established in 1864 by Alexander II to replace the authority of the nobles in administering local affairs after the abolition of serfdom: became the core of the liberal movement from 1905 to 1917.

Origin:
1860–65; < Russian zémstvo, derivative of zemlyá land, earth; see humus
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To zemstvo

00:10

00:09

00:08

00:07

00:06

00:05

00:04

00:03

00:02

00:01

Zemstvo is always a great word to know.
So is zedonk. Does it mean:
the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
Collins
World English Dictionary
zemstvo (ˈzɛmstvəʊ, Russian ˈzjɛmstvə)
 
n , pl -stvos
(in tsarist Russia) an elective provincial or district council established in most provinces of Russia by Alexander II in 1864 as part of his reform policy
 
[C19: from Russian, from zemlya land; related to Latin humus earth, Greek khamai on the ground]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Dictionary.com, LLC. Copyright © 2012. All rights reserved.
  • Please Login or Sign Up to use the Recent Searches feature