alderman

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A member of the municipal legislative body in a town or city in many jurisdictions.
2. n. A member of the higher branch of the municipal or borough council in England and Ireland before 1974.
3. n. A noble of high rank or authority in Anglo-Saxon England.
4. n. The chief officer of a shire in Anglo-Saxon England.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. In the Anglo-Saxon period of English history, a title meaning at first simply chieftain or lord, but later used specifically to denote the chief magistrate of a county or group of counties. The office was both civil and military, and was tending to become a great hereditary benefice when it was replaced, under Canute, by the earldom. After this the name was applied to any head man, as the head man of a guild.
2. n. Hence In modern usage, a magistrate of a city or borough, next in rank to the mayor. In England and Ireland, besides being a member of the common council, which manages the affairs of the municipality, he is vested with the powers of a police judge. The corresponding title in Scotland is bailie. Aldermen are usually chosen for three years, but the twenty-six aldermen of London are chosen for life. In most of the United States there is in each city an elected board of aldermen, representing wards, who constitute the municipal assembly, or the upper branch of it where it consists of two bodies, and usually also possess some judicial powers. In Pennsylvanian cities the title alderman is given to an officer having duties equivalent to those of a justice of the peace elsewhere.
3. n. In England, a half-crown: a meaning explained by Brewer as containing an allusion to the fact that an alderman is a sort of half-king.
4. n. A turkey.

Wiktionary

1. n. A member of several municipal legislative bodies in a city or town.
2. n. obsolete, slang A roasted turkey, called an alderman in chains or an alderman hung in chains if garnished with sausages. (1811 Dictionary of Vulgar Tongue)
3. n. slang A man's potbelly.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. obsolete A senior or superior; a person of rank or dignity.
2. n. One of a board or body of municipal officers next in order to the mayor and having a legislative function. They may, in some cases, individually exercise some magisterial and administrative functions.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a member of a municipal legislative body (as a city council)