Wordie: Bailiwick

9 months ago kewpid said:

This word is best pronounced with a British accent.

9 months ago chained_bear said:

The older definition (from the OED online):
A district or place under the jurisdiction of a bailie or bailiff. Used in Eng. Hist. as a general term including sheriffdom; and applied to foreign towns or districts under a vogt or bailli.

Usages:
c1460 FORTESCUE (1714): "A mean Bayliff may do more in his Bayly-Weke."
1574 tr. Littleton's Tenures 51a, "By the othe of xii true men of hys bayliwike."

1596 SPENSER (1862) "The sheriffe of the shire, whose peculiar office it is to walke up and downe his bayli-wicke."

1678 T. JONES: "Our British Isles, which never were within the diocess or bayliwick of Rome."

1796 MORSE Amer. Geog. II. 305 Berne. "This Canton contains 72 bailiwicks."

And my favorite--with the word used in the sense of "stewardship":
1550 CROWLEY, Epigrams, "Christe shall saie at the laste daye, Geve accounts of your baliwickes." I never thought about Christ using archaic English, and the thought rather tickles.

9 months ago halcyonwhimsy said:

The current definition is something to the description of one's proper sphere of knowledge or influence.

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