duumvir

American  

[doo-uhm-ver, dyoo-] / duˈʌm vər, dyu- /

noun

Roman History.

plural

duumvirs, duumviri

1. one of two officers or magistrates jointly exercising the same public function.

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duumvir British  

/ djuːˈʌmvə /

noun

1. Roman history one of two coequal magistrates or officers

2. either of two men who exercise a joint authority

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Etymology

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)

Example Sentences

Presently one of his pupils, as if he were præco to the duumvir, cries out, ‘Hush, gentlemen, hush! the godlike’—no, it is not that.

From Callista : a Tale of the Third Century by Newman, John Henry

This is generally interpreted as meaning that Apuleius himself had become duumvir.

From The Apologia and Florida of Apuleius of Madaura by Butler, Harold Edgeworth

Lastly, other trumpeters, and other pantomimists and tumblers, dancing, grimacing, gambolling, and mimicking the duumvir whom they are helping to bury, close the procession.

From The Wonders of Pompeii by Monnier, Marc

"Quintus Arrius, the duumvir, hath a better sound than Quintus Arrius, the tribune."

From Ben-Hur; a tale of the Christ by Wallace, Lewis

The crowns I won--and on the walls of the villa by Misenum there are many of them--all came to me as the son of Arrius, the duumvir.

From Ben-Hur; a tale of the Christ by Wallace, Lewis