burgher

[ bur-ger ]

/ ˈbɜr gər /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR burgher ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

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

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

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

Examples from the Web for burgher

When a burgher came to me at that time with an empty bandolier, it absolutely terrified me.
Three Years' War|Christiaan Rudolf de Wet
The burgher and the schoolmaster had the vision of statesmen.
The Sun Of Quebec|Joseph A. Altsheler
When I thought she was a burgher girl, I felt like a fussy old hen with a flock of ducks if he were alone with her.
Yolanda: Maid of Burgundy|Charles Major
The poor scholar and the burgher of Berne appeared to acquiesce in this opinion, and no more said in the matter.
The Headsman|James Fenimore Cooper

The movements of the women of the burgher classes were much more restricted than are those of the women of to-day.
Women of the Teutonic Nations|Hermann Schoenfeld

British Dictionary definitions for burgher

burgher

/ (ˈbɜːɡə) /

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

a citizen of the Cape Colony or of one of the Transvaal and Free State republics
(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

burgher

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).