baron
noun
- title of nobility in Europe
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈbæɹən/ / /ˈbaɹən/ / /ˈbaɾən/
name
Etymology: * As a French, English, Jewish, Dutch, Polish, Russian, Czech, German, Spanish (Barón), Romanian, Serbo-Croatian, and Breton surname, all from the noun baron. Compare Barron, Lebaron. * Also as a French surname, from several places in France Le Baron. * As an Italian (Veneto) surname, variant of Barone. * Also as a Czech surname (Baroň), from a pet form of Bartoloměj. * As an Irish surname, Anglicized from Ó Bearáin; see Barnes. * General Slavic surname: Anglicization of Polish Baran (“Aries”), Ukrainian Баран (Baran), etc.
- A surname from French
- A surname from German
- A surname from Polish
- A surname from Ukrainian
noun
Etymology: From Middle English baroun, from Old French baron, from Latin barōnem, from Proto-West Germanic *barō, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to bear”). Cognate with Old High German *baro (“human being, man, freeman”), Old English bora (“a man who bears responsibility, one who is in charge, a ruler”), and perhaps to Old English beorn (“man, warrior”). Used in early Germanic law in the sense of "man, human being". A Celtic origin has also been suggested; see the quote under sense 3 of Latin barō. However, the OED takes the hypothetical Proto-Celtic *bar- (“hero”) to be a figment.
- The male ruler of a barony.
- A male member of the lowest rank of English nobility (the equivalent rank in Scotland is lord).
- A person of great power in society, especially in business and politics.
“railroad baron”
“tech baron”
- A prisoner who gains power and influence by lending or selling goods such as tobacco.
“The first thing a baron does is to accumulate a supply of tobacco. He spends every penny he can earn on laying it in […]”
“Nevertheless, from my own agonies of the first few months, after which I did not miss smoking at all, I could appreciate the need of others. It was in this atmosphere of craving that the 'barons' thrived. Barons are prisoners who lend tobacco.”
- A baron of beef, a cut made up of a double sirloin.
“Such portentous appetites had Queequeg and Tashtego, that to fill out the vacancies made by the previous repast, often the pale Dough-Boy was fain to bring on a great baron of salt-junk, seemingly quarried out of the solid ox.”
- Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the genus Euthalia.
- A husband.
“baron and femme”