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

Stonehenge was in the district of Old Sarum, once a rotten borough, as certain places in England were termed which, with little or no population, had yet the right to be represented in Parliament.

From Reminiscences, 1819-1899 by Howe, Julia Ward

Whitchurch was another famous posting centre and, like Andover, a rotten borough.

From Wanderings in Wessex An Exploration of the Southern Realm from Itchen to Otter by Holmes, Edric

The point in controversy was the disfranchisement of a rotten borough, which had been convicted of bribery.

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

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