tithingman

English

Alternative forms

• tithing-man, tything-man
• titheman, tithe-man

Etymology

tithing +‎ -man

Noun

tithingman (plural tithingmen)

1. (law, historical) The chief of a tithing.
   • 1663, Samuel Butler, Hudibras, part 1, canto 1:

     [...] We that are wisely mounted higher
     Than constables, in curule wit,
     When on tribunal bench we sit,
     Like speculators, should foresee,
     From Pharos of authority,
     Portended mischiefs farther than
     Low proletarian tything-men [...]

2. (obsolete) A ruler or leader of ten men; a decurion.
3. (UK, law) A peace officer; an underconstable.
4. (US, Maryland and New England dialect, historical) A parish officer elected annually to preserve good order in the church during divine service, to make complaint of any disorderly conduct, and to enforce the observance of the Sabbath.
5. A tithe proctor: a collector of tithes.

Synonyms

• (chief of a tithing): headborough, decener, borsholder
• (peace officer): See underconstable
• (collector of tithes): See tithe proctor

Translations

the chief of a tithing

• Russian: ^{(please verify)} старшина́ о́круга m (staršiná ókruga)

References

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “tithingman”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)