| 释义 |
mayor|meɪə(r), mɛə(r)|
Forms: 3 mer, 3–7 (latterly Sc.) mair, 4 meire, 4–5 meir, meyr, 4–6 mayr, meyre, 4–7 maire, mayre, 5 maieur, mere, majer, maiere, meer, mar, mawer, 5–6 mayer, maier, meyer, 5–7 mare, 6–7 maio(u)r, 6–8 major, 6– mayor.
[Early ME. mair, mer, a. F. maire (from 13th c.):—L. mājor nom., properly adj., greater (see major). OF. had also a form maor, meor:—L. mājōrem acc., which may be represented in some of the ME. forms. The spelling maio(u)r, common in the 16th c., seems to be intended to represent the L. major, but as the i could be read as a vowel, this form became phonetically nearly coincident with those adopted from Fr. The substitution of y for i was in accordance with the orthographical habits of the 16–17th c., and need not be ascribed to imitation of the Sp. form mayor.
The med. L. mājor as a title was adopted as OHG. meiur, whence MHG. meier, meiger, mod.G. meier farm bailiff, farmer. Du. meier has both senses, ‘mayor’ and ‘farmer’.]
1. The head or chief officer of the municipal corporation of a city or borough.
The title is used in England and Ireland (see also Lord Mayor), in the British Commonwealth, and in the U.S. It was formerly borne by the heads of certain royal burghs in Scotland, but has there been long superseded by provost. It occasionally renders its etymological equivalent (F. maire) as the title of a similar municipal officer in French towns, though the Fr. word is now more commonly used; similarly, mayor was formerly used occas. to designate certain administrative officers in Holland and Switzerland (cf. mayoralty 3, mayory).
The continued practice of electing mayors in some decayed boroughs (e.g. Queenborough in Sheppey) which had become mere villages or hamlets is a common matter of jesting allusion in the literature of the 17th c. There are also in various parts of the country instances in which a so-called ‘mayor’ is or was elected periodically with burlesque ceremonies; of these mock-dignitaries the ‘Mayor of Garratt’, near Wandsworth, is the best-known example.
1297R. Glouc. (Rolls) 11226 Þe mer [of Oxford] was viniter. c1330R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 8031 Þe Meyre of Kermerdyn. 1386Rolls of Parlt. III. 225/1 When free men of the Citee [sc. London] come to chese her Maire. 1415Procl. in York Myst. Introd. 34 Ye Mair and ye Shirefs of yis Citee. c1450Lay Folks Mass Bk. 69 We sall pray especially for þe meer. c1460J. Russell Bk. Nurture 1137 in Babees Bk., Þe meyre of london, notable of dignyte, and of queneborow þe meire, no þynge like in degre. c1488Plumpton Corr. (Camden) 87 To the behaufe of the mawer of the Cyte of Yorke & his bredren. 1537Wriothesley Chron. (Camden) I. 31 Sir John Allen, maiour, being also one of the Kinge's Counsell. 1555Inv. Ch. Goods (Surtees Soc., No. 97) 157 One of the attorneys within the mayeres courte. 1599Broughton's Let. ii. 9 As the runn-away apprentice thought, the bels recalling him, told him he should be Maior of London. a1627Middleton (title) The Mayor of Quinborough. 1654Whitlock Zootomia 311 Hee were an arrant Mayor of Quinborrow, that should send to the Indies for Kentish Oysters. 1764Foote (title) The Mayor of Garratt. 1765T. Hutchinson Hist. Mass. I. 176 A corporation, consisting of a mayor, eight aldermen and a recorder. 1818Cruise Digest (ed. 2) V. 115 The mayor of the said city shall have full power..to receive and record all and every such fine and fines. 1902Westm. Gaz. 22 May 2/3 A boatman on the Bolton and Bury Canal has been selected as ‘Lord Mayor of the village of Ringley’. Ibid., In some parts the burlesque civic official was designated ‘Mayor of the Pig Market’, and in Dublin ‘Mayor of the Bull Ring’.
†b. mayor's peer: app. a person eligible for the office of mayor. Obs.
1560in Picton L'pool Munic. Rec. (1883) I. 33 Every Mayor and Mayors peer.
†c. In Ireland, app. applied to several members (? chief or capital burgesses) of the municipal body of which the mayor properly so called was the head.
1557in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 416 That ther be no more but twellve Mayors and the Mayor for the tyme beinge.
d. Mayor of the Staple: see staple.
†2. Used gen. for one in high judicial office. Obs.
a1300Cursor M. 7036 Þair leder and þair maister mair. 1362Langl. P.Pl. A. viii. 171 Ȝe meires and ȝe maister iuges. c1440J. Capgrave Life St. Kath. v. 1241 There was a man in Alisaundre..Meyer and leedere of alle the puple there.
†3. In Scotland (ordinarily spelt mair), formerly the title of various officers differing widely in rank, having delegated jurisdiction or executive functions, either under the sovereign or under some judicial authority. mair of fee: a ‘king's mair’ holding his office as a heritable possession. Obs.
Hence Gaelic maor, steward, policeman.
1429Sc. Acts Jas. I (1814) II. 17/2 A mayr of fee quheþer he be mayr of þe hail schirefdome or of part sal haf powere [etc.]. c1470Henry Wallace iv. 359 The mar kepyt the port of that willage, Wallace knew weill. 1522–3Ld. Treas. Acc. Scot. V. 209 Deliverit to the lord Zesteris heid mare our soverane lordis lettrez. 1544in E. D. Dunbar Docum. Moray (1895) 67 Principal Mair off the lands after specefied, viz. the Thayndaine [etc.]. 1609Skene Reg. Maj., Stat. Alex. II 17 b, He [the Earle of Fife] may not enter as Earle; bot as Mair to the king of the Earledom of Fife. 1703Fountainhall in M. P. Brown Suppl. Decis. (1826) IV. 564 The malversations of their mairs or messengers.
†b. mayorsfeud: the fee of a ‘mair’. Obs.
1608in E. D. Dunbar Docum. Moray (1895) 69 The said office of Mairsfeod of the forsaid earldom of Murray is held in chief of James Earl of Murray.
4. Mayor of the Palace (Hist.): = F. maire du palais, a mod. translation of med.L. major domus (occas. m. palatii), the title borne by the prime ministers (under the later Merovingians the virtual sovereigns) of the Frankish kingdoms. Also Mayor of Austrasia, mayor of Neustria.
1529Rastell Pastyme (1811) 77 Cloyter son of Clouis..ordeynyd mayrs of y⊇ palys. 1711W. King tr. Naude's Ref. Politics v. 171 The Majors of the palace..in France..embroiled the kingdom to make themselves necessary. 1818Hallam Mid. Ages (1841) I. i. 5 Ebroin and Grimoald mayors of Neustria and Austrasia. 1875Maine Hist. Inst. v. 139 The Mayor of the Frankish Palace became King of the Franks.
5. attrib. and Comb., as mayor-choosing; † mayor-corn, an ancient Scottish tax of corn given to the ‘mair’; † mayor-town, a town ruled by a mayor, a municipal town; also Sc. a farm or piece of land held by a ‘mair’ in right of his office.
1823T. Bond E. & W. Looe 277 *Mayor-choosing Days. The following Table..shews the Days of the Mayor-choosing at East Looe.
1606in E. D. Dunbar Docum. Moray 68 The haill *Mair cornes, reik hens, and uther casualities and feis quatsumevir of the tounis and lands of Tarress [etc.].
1623J. Taylor (Water-P.) Discov. Lond. Salisb. A 4 Then downe to Erith, 'gainst the tyde we went, Next London, greatest *Mayor [1630 Maior] towne in Kent. c1710C. Fiennes Diary (1888) 4 Y⊇ Assizes is allwayes kept at Salsebury and is a Major town though Wilton about 2 mile off is y⊇ County town. 1778Eng. Gazetteer (ed. 2) s.v. Sittingborn, In the reign of Elizabeth this was made a mayor-town. 1798W. Robertson Index Charters 120 Carta to William Herowart, of the office of Mairship of the east quarter of Fife, with the land called the Mairtoun, whilk William Mair resigned. |