Reeve

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ɹiːv/

Definitions

1. An individual serving as an official in charge of local jurisdiction and governance, along with the action of threading a cord through an aperture or loop
2. A person historically appointed to oversee a town or district ; to thread a rope or line through a hole or loop for fastening or mechanical purposes
3. An officer responsible for managing local affairs in earlier times ; the act of guiding a cord or rope through an opening for securing or pulling

Etymology: The most surprising thing about "reeve" is how close it sits to "count." Its ancestor, Old English "gerefa," belonged to the same family as German "Graf" and Dutch "graaf," titles of nobility, and Danish and Swedish "greve" are the same word. An Anglo-Saxon reeve was a royal official with real authority, so the word once carried weight that a modern town official does not. Over the centuries the word shrank in both form and status. It was clipped to "reve" in Middle English, and the role was largely taken over by "bailiff," a word of Anglo-Norman origin, so "reeve" became a local title rather than a national one. It survives mainly in historical and regional contexts, where it names a town official.

Synonyms: bailiff, steward, warden