handboroughn.
/ˈhan(d)b(ə)rə/, U.S. /ˈhæn(d)ˌb(ə)rə/ Chiefly historical. Now rare.
According to Spelman: one (or each) of the nine pledges or people who stand surety under the headborough (headborough n.) in a system of frank-pledge. Cf. also thirdborough n.Spelman's source for the term is not known. Later writers apparently chiefly follow Spelman. No trace of the word has been found in Old or Middle English.Quot. 1918 attests to non-historical use in 17th-cent. East Anglia, although no examples are given.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > legal obligation > bond or recognizance > requiring or giving legal security > [noun] > being legal surety for another > mutual, in tithing > member of frank-pledge
pledge1348
frank-pledgec1503
handborough1626
1626 H. Spelman Archæologus 331 Handborowe, in Decuriis seu Friborgis vnus e nouenis est, decimo, quem Headboruw vocant, suppositus.
1672 T. Manley Νομοθετης: Cowell's Interpreter sig. Ll2a Hand-borow, a Surety, a manual Pledge, that is, an inferior Undertaker; for Head-borow is a superior or chief Instrument, Spelm.
1709 J. Spelman & T. Hearne Life Alfred the Great ii. 109 Societies of ten Men..stood mutually Pledges to the King for the good Abbearance and Appearance..both of themselves and of all the Hand-boroughs of their Decennaries.
1774 E. Capell Notes & Var. Readings Shakespeare I. 68/2 Thridborough..so call'd for that he was the third in Degree; his immediate Superior being intitl'd—Hand-borough, his Chief—Head-borough.
1848 J. J. S. Wharton Law Lexicon at Head-borough The head boroughs were the chief of the ten pledges, the other nine being denominated hand-borows, or inferior pledges.
1918 C. M. Hoare Hist. E. Angl. Soke 350 Along with the annual certificates of masters and servants are other lists of all the Head-borroughes and Hand-borroughes in each township.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2013; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1626