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Guide
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Recent changes as of 2015-03-22
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bachelor
- •a journeyman
- •a craftsman who has not yet achieved master status
- •junior members of guilds or fraternities without their own business
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badger
- •one who buys commodities and carries them elsewhere to sell;
an itinerant dealer who acts as middleman between producer and consumer;
a cadger, hawker, huckster.
- cf kiddier
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bailiff, bailie
- •civ. an officer of the court
- •Brit. a sheriff's officer who executed writs and processes
- •Brit. the agent or steward of a landlord
- •Brit. hist. the sovereign's representative in a district, esp. the
chief officer of a hundred
(=a subdivision of a county or shire, with its own court).
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baker
- •one who bakes and sells breads, cakes, etc.,
esp. professionally.
(bake=To cook by dry heat in an oven or on a hot surface without direct exposure to a flame.)
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banneret
- •a knightly rank, often granted in the field for conspicuous valour
- •a knight fielding vassals under his own banner
[BL]
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barber-surgeon
- •one who shaves faces or heads and performs light surgery
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bard
- •a minstrel or poet who glorifies the virtues of the people and chieftains
[BL]
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barker
- •obs A tanner. (=from the use of tree bark in the process).
One that removes bark from trees or logs or prepares such for use in tanning.
- •An employee who stands before the entrance to a show,
as at a carnival,
and solicits customers with a loud, colorful sales spiel. [TFD]
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barmaid
(~man)
- •one who sells food and drink at the bar of a tavern or hotel.
- barman
- •obs a pleader at the bar; a barrister.
- •one who prepares bars, esp of metal for the manufacture of wire.
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barmaster
Also: barge~, bergh~, bargh~
- •a local judge among miners.
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barnard
Also: bern~
- •a member of a gang of swindlers who acts as a decoy.
- •a lurking scoundrel; a sharper.
(=a variant of berner)
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baron
- •Brit a member of the lowest order of the British nobility;
a similar member of another nationality.
- •an important businessman or other powerful or influential person
(e.g. lumber ~, newspaper ~)
- •hist A person who held lands or property from the sovereign or other powerful overlord.
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Baron of the Exchequer
- •Brit Title of the judges of the Court of the Exchequer,
the president being Chief Baron.
(=Barons of the Exchequer were so called because Barons of the Realm used to be employed in that office.)
(Exchequer=That office or department of state managed by the Treasurer, the Justiciary and other judges of the King's Court and certain Barons apppointed by the King. Collection and administration of royal revenues with judicial determination of all causes relating to revenue. Later split into 2 branches, judicial and administrative.)
[YG]
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barons of the cinq ports
- •the civic officers of the jurisdictional liberty known as the Cinq Ports, who provided ships for the king's service in return for their privileges.
(cinq ports=Sandwich, Dover, Hythe, Winchelsea and Hastings)
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barrister
- •Brit one called to the bar and entitled to practice as an advocate
in the higher courts
(=barristers were gentlemen who did not accept pay (but received honoria by courtesy))
cf solicitor
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bawd
- •a woman who runs a brothel.
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baxter
- •a baker
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bayman
- •a boatman of a particular locale or bay, as Chesapeake Bay,
or Cape Cod Bay.
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beach bum
- •informal a person who habitually loafs or idles on beaches
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beach comber
- •a vagrant who lives by searching beaches for jetsam
(=articles of value that wash up)
- •a seaside vacationer
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beadle
- •Brit hist a minor parish officer who dealt with petty offenses.
- •Brit a ceremonial officer of a church, college, etc.
- •Sc a church office attending on the minister
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beadsman
pl: ~men
- •hist a pensioner provided for by a benefactor in return for prayers.
- •an inmate of an almshouse.
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beatitude
- •eccl a title given patriarchs of the Orthodox Church.
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bedel
Also: bedell
- •Brit a university official with chiefly ceremonial duties.
(=beadle)
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bedellus
- see beadle
BEEs |
- BEE
- A bee was a social gathering where people would combine work, competition, and amusement. There were several variations:
- apple- or apple-cut, a social gathering for the cutting up of apples for drying.
- husking- for husking corn
- quilting- a gathering to make quilts
- raising- also historically called a "barn raising" or "rearing" in the U.K., describes a collective action of a community, in which a barn for one of the members is built or rebuilt collectively by members of the community. Barn raising was particularly common in 18th- and 19th-century rural North America.
- sewing- a social event centered around sewing. Participants either work on a project together (such as a large quilt, or blocks of knitting for a blanket) or individual projects.
- spelling- a contest in which competitors are eliminated as they fail to spell a given word correctly. Also called spelldown.
- spinning- a communal gathering, typically of women, to spin wool.
Refreshments were traditionally served and the atmosphere party-like.
These after-parties were considered execellent opportunity to scout available prospects for a spouse.
While participation in a communal bee was strictly voluntary, reciprocity was a powerful force.
Absent valid cause, such as serious illness, non-participation in neighbor Jones's barn-raising would have reprocussions come autumn w/r/t your own corn harvest.
The need for such communal efforts petered out by the beginning of the 20th century -- except in special circumstances or traditions.
The Amish and Mennonite cultures still hold bees, for example.
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beefeater
- •a warder of the Tower of London; a Yeoman of the Guard
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beekeeper
- see apiarist
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beggar
- •a person who begs, especially one who lives by begging.
Beggars commonly employed different, well-defined tactics
toward ensuring success,
and were called by different names as with more legitimate pursuits:
abram,
dummerer,
palliard,
ruffler.
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bellhop
Also: bellboy
Also: bellman
- •a hotel (usually liveried) porter who helps patrons with their luggage during
check-in or check-out, but may also provide concierge-like services.
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bencher
- •Brit. law a senior member of any of the Inns of Court.
- •Brit. Parl an occupant of a specified bench (e.g. backbencher).
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Benedictines
- •monastic order founded by St. Benedictine.
Monks take vows of personal poverty, chastity and obedience to their abbot and the Benedictine Rule.
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benefactor
- •one who gives support, esp financial, to another or to a cause.
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beneficiary
- •one who receives benefits, esp under the terms of a will, insurance policy, etc.
- •the holder of a benefice
(=an income from a church office.)
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berner
- •one who waited with a relay of hounds to intercept
a hunted animal.
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billy piecer
- •a clothier, (esp woollen) mill worker who collects broken yarn and joins it. [DOT]
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bishop
- •eccl. a senior member of the Christian clergy, empowered to confer
holy orders and usually in charge of a diocese.
See table at Ecclesiastical hierarchy.
- cf coadjutor bishop
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black canons
- •common name for Augustinian Canons, derived from the color of their robes.
[BL]
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black monks
- •common name for members of the Benedictine Order derived from the color of the habits.
[BL]
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blacksmith
- •a smith who works in black metal. (=iron)
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blender
- •a cloth-worker who blends various lots of raw wool together as a stage in cloth-making.
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blessed
- •eccl worthy of worship; holy.
- •held in veneration; revered.
- Blessed
- •RCC used as a title before the name of one who has been beatified.
(=Formally declared worthy of public veneration. A step (usually) leading to canonization (sainthood).)
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block maker
- •a maker of pulley blocks
(=a wooden holder of a set of one or more pulleys which, when threaded with a rope, make a block and tackle used to lift heavy loads, esp. aboard ship.)
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bluejacket
- •nav. US & Brit. an enlisted seaman
- •a member of the West Yorkshire Yeomanry Cavalry
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bluestocking
- •a female writer
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boatman
- •one who works on, deals with or operates boats.
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boatswain
Also: bo's'n, bos'n, bosun
- •nav a warrant officer or petty officer in charge of a ship's rigging,
anchors, cables and deck crew.
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body snatcher
- •one who secretly disinters corpses from graveyards.
(a/k/a "resurrectionist" or "resurrection-man".
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bombardier
- •mil. an air crew member of a bomber, responsible for sighting and releasing bombs.
- •Brit. a non-commissioned officer in the artillary.
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bon vivant, ~viveur
- •a person indulging in good living, a gourmand.
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bondman
(~woman, bondservant)
- •a person obligated to service without wages
Related terms:
- •a serf bound to the land
- •servant
- •slave
- •a servile tenant to the lord of the manor
- •a person in thrall to another
- •vassal
- bondsman
- •a person who provides bond or surety for another
- •a male bondservant
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bones
- •naut. a informal form of address for a ship's doctor.
cf sawbones
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bonesetter
- •med. a person who sets broken or dislocated bones,
esp without being a certified physician.
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boniface
- •an innkeeper
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bookkeeper
- •one who keeps the accounts of a mercantile concern, public office, etc.
- •rare a hoarder of books; a book-miser [OED]
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boor
- •a person with rude, clumsy manners with little refinement.
- •a peasant.
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bootblack
- •a person who polishes boots and shoes.
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bordar
Also: bordarius, bordarii
- •a bondman
- •Brit Hist an unfree peasant with less land than villans. [DOME]
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bowman1
/bō′mən/
- •an archer
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bowman2
/bou′mən/
- •naut a seaman who oars, rows or paddles at the bow of a boat.
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bowyer
- •one who makes or sells bows for archery.
- •archaic an archer
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boxer
- •sports one who fights with the fists as a sport.
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boyar
- •Rus. nob. a member of the old Russian nobility.
(=grandee)
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brakeman
- •one who operates, inspects, or repairs brakes, esp
a railroad employee who assists the conductor
and checks on the operation of a train's brakes
(=stopping mechanism).
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brazier
- •one who works with brass
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brever
- •a book-keeper, ledger-clerk
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brewster
(brewer)
- •a beer manufacturer; in medieval times, often a woman
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bright
- •Norse
"brýti"; see steward
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brightsmith
- •a metal worker
cf Whitesmith
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brogger
- •a wool trader
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brownsmith
- see greensmith
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buccaneer
- •naut a pirate,
esp one who preyed upon Spanish shipping in the West Indies in the 17° century.
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bureaucrat
- •civ an official of a bureaucracy.
- •an official inordinately fixated on procedure.
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burgess
- •a (esp. vested) citizen of a town or borough.
- •Brit Hist an urban dweller, usually from the upper section of townsmen, whose tenure was based on a financial payment.
- •a holder either of land or a house in a borough, with special judicial privileges
and a part to play in running the borough.
[DOME]
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burglar
- •one who commits burglary.
(=the act of entering (e.g. a premises) with the intent to commit a theft.)
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burgonmaster
(burgomaster (Du.), burgomeister (G.))
- •civ a mayor of a city
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burler
- •a worker who picks knots and other defects from cloth
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burn-crust
- •joc. a baker
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bursar
- •an official in charge of funds, as aboard ship, at a college, etc.;
a treasurer.
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bus boy
- •a restaurant employee who clears away dirty dishes,
sets tables,
and acts as assistant to a waiter or waitress.
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busker
- •a street musician or public entertainer,
esp. one who solicits money during the performance.
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butcher
- •a person whose trade is dealing in meats
- •one who slaughters animals for food,
in former times often itinterantly
- •a person who kills or has people killed indiscriminately or brutally
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butler
- •dom a domestic servant with widely diverse duties commensurate with the
size of the household, such as
house steward,
head waiter,
or personal assistant to the householder.
[DOT]
See also the
International Guild of Professional Butlers.
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buttier
- •Chief of the buttery (for wine, ale and beer).
(=Because they were held in butts or casks.)
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buzzard
- •an avaricious
(=greedy)
or otherwise unpleasant person
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bwana
- •Swahile polite form of address in parts of Africa.
- cf sahib
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by-bidder
- •a person who bids at an auction to raise the price,
usually for the owner of the item up for bid.
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