burghal
English
Etymology
Adjective
burghal (not comparable)
- (UK) Relating to a burgh or borough.
- 1867, John Guthrie Smith, A Digest of the Law of Scotland Relating to the Poor, the Public Health, and Other Matters Managed by Parochial Boards[1], 2nd edition, Edinburgh: T&T Clark, Introduction, p. 2:
- In Scotland, parishes are either burghal, i.e. those comprised wholly within a burgh royal; landward, those forming a rural district; or mixed, i.e. a burgh with a rural district attached.
- 1930 July, John Buchan, “Portaway—Red Davie”, in Castle Gay, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton Mifflin Company; Cambridge, Mass.: The Riverside Press, →OCLC, page 202:
- There is a pleasant smell of cooking about, and a hum of compact and contented life. Add the excitement of an election, and you have that busy burghal hive which is the basis of all human society—a snug little commune intent on its own affairs, a world which for the moment owes allegiance to no other.
Usage notes
For England and Wales, the word is historical and corresponds to the medieval borough. For Scotland, it corresponds to the burgh.
Antonyms
Derived terms
References
- “burghal”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.