landlord
Plurallandlords
- 1A person who leases real property to a tenant; a lessor.
The landlord raised the rent when the lease came up for renewal.
City inspectors fined several landlords who let their buildings fall into disrepair.
Similarlessor
Note
The oldest layer of the word is literal: Old English landhlāford, a lord of land, with cousins in Scots landlaird and Middle Low German lantlord. Its natural partner is tenant, or lessee when the language of a lease is wanted. The Life and Death of Iacke Straw (1593) already sets the landlord's rent beside the lawyer's fees as the two drains on a poor man's substance.
- 2A person who owns a pub or has charge of running it.
The landlord barred two rowdy customers from the pub after Saturday's match.
After thirty years behind the bar, the landlord finally sold the Red Lion.
Similarpublican, innkeeper, proprietor
Note
In British use the word moves from the rent book to the bar. The landlord of a pub is the person who keeps it, whether they own the house or simply run it. The AA Book of British Villages (1980) tells of one who took on a pub so he could close it on Sundays. Unlike the letting sense, it pairs with customers, not tenants.
- 3A shark, imagined as the owner of the surf, whose waters are best avoided.
The lineup emptied in seconds when a fin broke the surface. Nobody argues with the landlord.
Locals say the landlord collects his rent at dusk, so they leave the water by five.
Note
Surfers' slang turns a predator into a property owner: the shark holds the deed to the break, and the surfers are only visiting. It takes the definite article and is often capitalized like a title, as in Drew Kampion's "the lurking presence of 'The Landlord'" (2004). The joke borrows from the letting sense, so leaving the water reads as deference to the owner rather than fear.
Practice
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Origin
From Middle English londlord, from Old English landhlāford, which is simply 'land' plus 'lord'. It is related to Scots landlaird and Middle Low German lantlord meaning 'homeowner, landlord'.