verderer

or ver·de·ror

[vur-der-er]

noun

an English judicial officer in the royal forests having charge especially of the vert, or trees and undergrowth.

Origin of verderer

1535–45; < Anglo-French verderer, Old French verd(i)er < Latin viridārius, equivalent to virid(is) green + -ārius -ary (see -er²); doubling of -er in Anglo-French perhaps by falsely taking verder as a form of verdure verdure

Related formsver·der·er·ship, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for verderer

Historical Examples of verderer

Jacob Armitage served King Charles, who employed him as a verderer in the forest, and paid him his wages.
The Children of the New Forest
Captain Marryat
The verderer appeared very indignant at this reply, but after a time said, “Be it so.”
The Children of the New Forest
Captain Marryat
The verderer was a judicial officer chosen in full county by the freeholders in the same manner as the coroner.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 6
Various
Windybank, as a verderer, should have remembered this, but weightier matters had driven it from his mind.
Sea-Dogs All!
Tom Bevan
In my own words you certainly would: and so I propose to relate it just as the verderer told it to me.
News from the Duchy
Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch

British Dictionary definitions for verderer

verderer

noun

English legal history a judicial officer responsible for the maintenance of law and order in the royal forests

Word Origin for verderer

C16: from Anglo-French, from Old French verdier, from verd green, from Latin viridis; compare Latin viridārium plantation of trees

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