bailiwick
[bey-luh-wik]
noun
the district within which a bailie or bailiff has jurisdiction.
a person's area of skill, knowledge, authority, or work: to confine suggestions to one's own bailiwick.
RELATED WORDS
Nearby words
- bailey,
- bailey bridge,
- bailey, liberty hyde,
- bailie,
- bailiff,
- baillie,
- bailment,
- bailor,
- bailout,
- bailsman
Origin of bailiwick
SYNONYMS FOR bailiwick
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for bailiwick
bailiwick
noun
Word Origin for bailiwick
C15: from baili(e) + wick ²
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
bailiwick
"district of a bailiff," early 15c., baillifwik, from bailiff (q.v.) + Middle English form of Old English wic "village" (see wick (n.2)). Figurative sense of "one's natural or proper sphere" is first recorded 1843.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper