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duumvir

[doo-uhm-ver, dyoo-]
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noun, plural du·um·virs, du·um·vi·ri [doo-uhm-vuh-rahy] /duˈʌm vəˌraɪ/. Roman History.
  1. one of two officers or magistrates jointly exercising the same public function.
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Origin of duumvir

1590–1600; < Latin, back formation from duumvirōrum, genitive plural of duovirī two men, equivalent to duo- duo- + virī, plural of vir man, cognate with Old English wer (see werewolf)
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for duumvir

Historical Examples

  • The elder, Rufus, was duumvir for the fourth term in 3-2 B.C.

    Pompeii, Its Life and Art

    August Mau

  • Caius Servilius, duumvir, also dedicated a temple of Jupiter, in the island.

  • Probably a consular personage, a duumvir, since lictors lead the line.

  • He was, with Csar, the year after, one of the judges (duumvir perduellionis) in the trial of C. Rabirius.

    History of Julius Caesar Vol. 2 of 2

    Napoleon III, Emperor of the French, 1808-1873.

British Dictionary definitions for duumvir

duumvir

noun plural -virs or -viri (-vɪˌriː)
  1. Roman history one of two coequal magistrates or officers
  2. either of two men who exercise a joint authority
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Word Origin

C16: from Latin, from duo two + vir man
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