bailie

American  

[bey-lee] / ˈbeɪ li /

noun

1. (in Scotland) a municipal officer or magistrate, corresponding to an English alderman.

2. Obsolete. bailiff.

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bailie British  

/ ˈbeɪlɪ /

noun

1. (in Scotland) a municipal magistrate

2. an obsolete or dialect spelling of bailiff

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Other Word Forms

• subbailie noun

Etymology

Origin of bailie

1250–1300; Middle English baillie < Old French bailli, variant of baillif bailiff

Example Sentences

The only pleasant thing about cleaning one’s bailie was that this was the one moment in those early days when we could have a whispered word with our colleagues.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela

Ane o' my kinsman a bailie in ilka burgh will just do as weel, Cousin Nicol.

From The Best of the World's Classics, Vol. V (of X) - Great Britain and Ireland III by Lodge, Henry Cabot

Grandier himself, burning with rage, hastened to the bailie and demanded that the nuns be separately interrogated, and by other inquisitors than Mignon and Barr�.

From Historic Ghosts and Ghost Hunters by Bruce, H. Addington (Henry Addington)

Say you so," cried the bailie, remembering the offence done to his family, "say you so; and that he is in a girn that wants but a manly hand to grip him.

From Ringan Gilhaize or The Covenanters by Galt, John

But, probably in consequence of his supposed connection with the legend of William Tell, the bailie to whom the name of Gessler has been given stands out more prominently in Swiss history than any other.

From The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 07 by Johnson, Rossiter