burgher
[bur-ger]
- an inhabitant of a town, especially a member of the middle class; citizen.
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Origin of burgher
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for burgher
Historical Examples
Well, gentlemen of the burgher guard, what are you advancing for, and what do you wish?
The Black TulipAlexandre Dumas (Pere)
It was indeed the order, which the burgher guard received with a roar of triumph.
The Black TulipAlexandre Dumas (Pere)
That a man was a "citizen," or burgher, of any town, of course proves nothing.
HolbeinBeatrice 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.
The Peace NegotiationsJ. D. Kestell
burgher
- 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
- a citizen of the Cape Colony or of one of the Transvaal and Free State republics
- (as modifier)burgher troops
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Word Origin
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
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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).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper