portreeve

portreeve

English

Alternative forms

• portgreve, portgrave
• port-reeve

Etymology

From Middle English port-reve etc., from Old English portgerēfa etc., from port (“a walled market town”) +‎ gerēfa (“reeve”).

Noun

portreeve (plural portreeves)

1. A borough-reeve: an office equivalent to a mayor (historical) in several major English towns or (dialectal) in various minor boroughs of Wales and Southwest England.
   • 1772, Jacob's Law Dictionary:

     Instead of the portgreve [of London], Richard the first ordained two bailiffs, but presently after him King John granted them a mayor for their yearly magistrate.

2. (historical) A municipal office subordinate to a mayor, (especially) a bailiff.
3. (historical) A port reeve, a port warden.

Derived terms

• portreeveship

References

• Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd ed. "portreeve, n." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2006.