rotten borough

American  

noun

1. (before the Reform Bill of 1832) any English borough that had very few voters yet was represented in Parliament.

2. an election district that has more representatives in a legislative body than the number of its constituents would normally call for.

---

rotten borough British  

noun

1. (before the Reform Act of 1832) any of certain English parliamentary constituencies with only a very few electors Compare pocket borough

---

Etymology

Origin of rotten borough

First recorded in 1805–15

Example Sentences

His "rotten borough," with its immemorial animalism, its "idiot," its saints, is propaganda of the universal order.

From Time Magazine Archive

Lord Verney, for a seat in the privy council, was induced to give him a "rotten borough."

From Beacon Lights of History, Volume 09 European Statesmen by Lord, John

For the clique had appropriated all right and claim to a monopoly of The Arabian Nights Entertainments which they held in hand as a rotten borough.

From The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 16 by Burton, Richard Francis, Sir

That is to say, he bought a borough—the borough of Old Sarum, the locality that was to become famous as the "rotten borough" of the Reform Bill.

From Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great, Volume 7 Little Journeys to the Homes of Eminent Orators by Hubbard, Elbert

A few of the townspeople, humiliated at seeing their town always treated as a rotten borough, joined the democrats, though enemies to democracy.

From The Deputy of Arcis by Wormeley, Katharine Prescott