baronとは 意味・読み方・使い方

語源

From 中期英語 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”), 古期英語 bora (“a man who bears responsibility, one who is in charge, a ruler”), and perhaps to 古期英語 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.

発音

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈbæɹən/
• (General American) enPR: bă'rən
  • (without the Mary–marry–merry merger) IPA: /ˈbæɹən/
  • (Mary–marry–merry merger) IPA: /ˈbɛəɹən/
• 韻: -æɹən
• Homophone: barren

名詞

baron (plural barons)

1. The male ruler of a barony.
2. A male member of the lowest rank of English nobility (the equivalent rank in Scotland is lord).

   Coordinate terms: don, duke, earl, lord, prince, baronet

3. (by extension) A person of great power in society, especially in business and politics.

   Synonyms: magnate, tycoon; see also Thesaurus:important person

   • c. 1948, George Orwell, Such, Such Were the Joys:

     There were a few exotics among them — some South American boys, sons of Argentine beef barons, one or two Russians, and even a Siamese prince, or someone who was described as a prince.

   • 2013 August 10, Lexington, “Keeping the mighty honest”, in The Economist‎, volume 408, number 8848:

     British journalists shun complete respectability, feeling a duty to be ready to savage the mighty, or rummage through their bins. Elsewhere in Europe, government contracts and subsidies ensure that press barons will only defy the mighty so far.

4. (UK, prison slang) A prisoner who gains power and influence by lending or selling goods such as tobacco.
   • 1960, Hugh J. Klare, Anatomy of Prison, page 33:

     The first thing a baron does is to accumulate a supply of tobacco. He spends every penny he can earn on laying it in […]

   • 1961, Peter Baker, Time out of life, page 51:

     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.

   • 1980, Leonard Michaels, Christopher Ricks, The State of the Language, page 525:

     In British prisons tobacco still remains the gold standard which is made to back every transaction and promise. The official allowance is barely sufficient for individual smoking needs, but tobacco may expensively be borrowed or bought from a baron, possibly through his runner.

5. A baron of beef, a cut made up of a double sirloin.
   • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “chapter 34”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

     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.

6. Any of various nymphalid butterflies of the genus Euthalia.
7. (law, obsolete) A husband.

   Coordinate term: wife

   baron and femme ― husband and wife

派生語

関連する語

• baroness
• baronetcy
• baronial
• baronne

参照

• "baron n.", Oxford English Dictionary, Second edition, 1989; first published in New English Dictionary, 1885.

アナグラム

• NORBA, aborn, Nabor, Bonar, Barno, Borna, Orban, Abron, Rabon, bonar, Arbon

形容詞

baron

1. alternative form of bareyne

語源 2

名詞

baron

1. alternative form of baroun