baron

¹

[bar-uhn]

noun

1. a member of the lowest grade of nobility.

2. (in Britain)

   1. a feudal vassal holding his lands under a direct grant from the king.

   2. a direct descendant of such a vassal or his equal in the nobility.

   3. a member of the House of Lords.

3. an important financier or industrialist, especially one with great power in a particular area.

   an oil baron.

4. a cut of mutton or lamb comprising the two loins, or saddle, and the hind legs.

Baron

²

[ba-rawn]

noun

1. Michel Michel Boyron, 1653–1729, French actor.

baron

/ ˈbærən /

noun

1. a member of a specific rank of nobility, esp the lowest rank in the British Isles

2. (in Europe from the Middle Ages) originally any tenant-in-chief of a king or other overlord, who held land from his superior by honourable service; a land-holding nobleman

3. a powerful businessman or financier

   a press baron

4. English law (formerly) the title held by judges of the Court of Exchequer

5. short for baron of beef

Word History and Origins

Origin of baron¹

1200–50; Middle English < Anglo-French, Old French < Late Latin barōn- (stemof barō ) man < Germanic; sense “cut of beef ” perhaps by analogy with the fanciful analysis of sirloin as “Sir Loin”

Word History and Origins

Origin of baron¹

C12: from Old French, of Germanic origin; compare Old High German baro freeman, Old Norse berjask to fight

Example Sentences

The baroness and her husband, the baron, were close friends of the Ashtons, although even Lady Constance found the baroness a chore to be around.

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Focused economic pressure from China just might persuade the party barons to deliver a strong behind-the-scenes message to their leader.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

With his bald pate, dark-framed glasses and knowing demeanor, he has become one of the foremost chroniclers of the world’s media barons and Manhattan potentates.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

It is believed they may be descended from indigenous people who fled into the deep jungle in the late 19th Century, escaping rampant exploitation and widespread massacres by so-called "rubber barons".

Read more on BBC

The greed and avarice of media barons are complicit in the government’s move toward one ruling party with no dissent.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• aristocrat