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definitions

burgher

[bur-ger]
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noun

an inhabitant of a town, especially a member of the middle class; citizen.

Origin of burgher

1560–70; < Middle Dutch < Middle High German burger, equivalent to burg borough + -er -er1
Related formsburgh·er·ship, noun
Can be confusedburger burgher
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for burgher

voter, civilian, resident, national, settler, inhabitant, taxpayer, villager, dweller, commoner, aborigine, denizen, subject, householder, occupant, native, cosmopolite, burgher, burgess, townsperson

Examples from the Web for burgher

Historical Examples of burgher

  • Well, gentlemen of the burgher guard, what are you advancing for, and what do you wish?

    The Black Tulip

    Alexandre Dumas (Pere)

  • It was indeed the order, which the burgher guard received with a roar of triumph.

    The Black Tulip

    Alexandre Dumas (Pere)

  • That a man was a "citizen," or burgher, of any town, of course proves nothing.

    Holbein

    Beatrice Fortescue

  • What was the burgher life of that first century of Munich's history?

  • A burgher who was with them to-day went to lay down his arms to-morrow.

British Dictionary definitions for burgher

burgher

noun

a member of the trading or mercantile class of a medieval city
a respectable citizen; bourgeois
archaic a citizen or inhabitant of a corporate town, esp on the Continent
Southern African history
  1. a citizen of the Cape Colony or of one of the Transvaal and Free State republics
  2. (as modifier)burgher troops

Word Origin for burgher

C16: from German Bürger, or Dutch burger freeman of a borough
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
Word Origin and History for burgher
n.

1560s, "freeman of a burgh," from Middle Dutch burgher or German Bürger, from Middle High German burger, from Old High German burgari "inhabitant of a fortress," from burg "fortress, citadel" (see borough). Burgh, as a native variant of borough, persists in Scottish English (cf. Edinburgh).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper