| 释义 |
viscount|ˈvaɪkaʊnt|
Forms: α. 3–6 viscounte (4 vescownte), 5– viscount (6 viscont). β. 5 vycounte, vicounte, vicound, 6 Sc. vecount, 6–8 vicount (7 vicont).
[a. AF. ves-, viscounte (-cunte, -conte), OF. visconte, viconte (F. vicomte), f. vis- vice- + counte count n.2, after med.L. vicecomes: cf. vice-count. So It. visconte, Pg. visconde, Sp. vizconde.]
1. Hist. One acting as the deputy or representative of a count or earl in the administration of a district; in English use spec. a sheriff or high sheriff.
1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VIII. 37 The erle Pictaveuse..ravesched his owne viscountes wyf. Ibid. 165 Oon Wydomarus, viscounte of Lemovik..foond greet tresour of gold. a1400Morte Arth. 1984 Sir Valyant of Vyleris..made siche avowez, To venquyse by victorie the vescownte of Rome! 1484Caxton Chivalry 23 Kynges oughte to haue under them dukes, Erles, vycountes and other lordes. a1513Fabyan Chron. vii. (1811) 287 Otho..pursued after y⊇ vaungarde of the kyng, of y⊇ which were capitayns y⊇ vicounte of Mylyon, and one named fryer Garny. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 113 The Vicount of Melun, a verye noble man of the realme of Fraunce. 1579Expos. Termes Law 181 b, Viscount is a magistrate, and officer, of grat authoryty whom wee commonly call (Sherife). 1630Wadsworth Pres. Estate Spain 32 Vicountes of Spayne, and the value of their Lordships, of which they are Vicounts. 1710J. Harris Lex. Techn. II, Viscount,..Vicount, signifies as much as Sheriff. 1861Ld. Brougham Brit. Const. iii. 42 All the freeholders assembled under the viscount or sheriff. 1867Freeman Norm. Conq. (1877) I. v. 302 Neal, the valiant Viscount of the district.
Comb.1611Cotgr., Vicomptier, of a Vicount, Vicountlike.
b. In the island of Jersey: (see quots.).
1694Falle Jersey ii. 65 Before whom rideth the Viscount, or Sheriff, with his Staff of Office erected, one End thereof on the Pommel of his Saddle. 1862Ansted Channel Isl. iv. xxiii. 525 In Jersey there is an officer called Vicomte, or Viscount, who represents the High Sheriff of an English county.
2. A member of the fourth order of the British peerage, ranking between an earl and a baron. Occas. contracted Visc., Visct.
This use of the title dates from the reign of Henry VI, when John, Baron Beaumont, was created Viscount Beaumont by letters patent of 12th February, 1440.
1450Rolls of Parlt. V. 189/2 Notwithstondyng that Vis⁓countes were not erecte nor create, in the tyme of..oure Fadre. c1475Contin. Brut 602 Þe Duke of Northfolke, þe Erle of Warwyk, Lord Facounbryge, & Vicound Bowser. a1548Hall Chron., Rich. III, 25 b, Fraunces lorde Louell was then made Vicount Louell, and the kynge his chamberlain. Ibid., Hen. VIII, 190 The kyng..created the vicount Rochforth Earle of Wilshire, and the vicount Fitzwater was created Earle of Sussex. 1628Burton Anat. Mel. (ed. 3) i. ii. iii. xi, A Knight would be a Baronet, and then a Lord, and then a vicount, and then an Earle. 1631Milton Ep. M. Win. 3 The honour'd Wife of Winchester, A Viscounts daughter, an Earls heir. a1700Evelyn Diary 17 Oct. 1664, I went with my Lord Visct. Cornebury to Cornebury in Oxfordshire. 1765Blackstone Comm. I. 385 All degrees of honour are not of equal antiquity. Those now in use are dukes, marquesses, earls, viscounts, and barons. 1840Penny Cycl. XVII. 369/2 Peers of the Realm;..the persons who fall under this description are the dukes, marquesses, earls, viscounts, and barons. 1882Cussans Her. (1893) 180 The privilege of wearing Coronets was accorded to Viscounts by James the First.
3. In Continental usage: The son or younger brother of a count.
1848Thackeray Van. Fair xxviii, The postillion who drove us [to Waterloo] was a Viscount, a son of some bankrupt Imperial General. |