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.

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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

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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

He will find no quiet clique of the exclusive, studious and cultured; no rotten borough of the arts.

From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson, Volume 9 by Stevenson, Robert Louis

My heart ferments not with the bigot's leaven, All creeds I view with toleration thorough, And have a horror of regarding heaven As any body's rotten borough.

From The Humorous Poetry of the English Language; from Chaucer to Saxe by Parton, James

The next session he moves to disfranchise that rotten borough, which had been convicted of bribery, and transfer its members to Leeds.

From Sketches of Reforms and Reformers, of Great Britain and Ireland by Stanton, Henry B.

Unfortunately for his own peace of mind, Mr. Gordon identified himself with a rotten borough.

From Western Worthies A Gallery of Biographical and Critical Sketches of West of Scotland Celebrities by Jeans, J. Stephen (James Stephen)