# mayor

Pronunciation: US say "MAY-ur" /ˈmeɪ.əɹ/; UK say "MAIR" /ˈmɛə/

## Noun

1. The head of the government of a city or town, usually elected; in some places, such as US council-manager cities, a largely ceremonial office that chairs the council.
   - Simple: The person who leads the government of a city or town. In some places the job is mostly ceremonial.
   - _After winning a second term, the mayor promised to hire more bus drivers and repair the city's oldest bridges._
   - _Voters in several cities will choose their mayors in next month's election._
2. A local VIP or big shot regarded as the leading figure of some local group.
   - Simple: An important or well-known person treated as the leader of some local group.
   - _After thirty years on the same block, old Frank was the unofficial mayor of the neighborhood._
   - _Having run the corner bakery for thirty years, Luis is the unofficial mayor of the neighborhood, and newcomers are sent to him first._

## Noun

3. A judge of high rank or importance; a senior justice. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: An important, high-ranking judge in former times.
4. Someone holding a seat on the council that governs a city. *(obsolete, Ireland)*
   - Simple: A member of a city's governing council, in former times.

## Other meanings

- (noun) Ellipsis of mayor of the palace.
- (noun) Any of various former officials in the Kingdom of Scotland, equivalent to a mair.

## Origin

The root is Latin magnus ('big, great'), whose comparative maior ('bigger, greater, superior') became Old French maire ('greater'). Used as a noun, that word came to mean 'head of a city or town government' and passed into Middle English as maire. 'Major' is its doublet, and Old High German meior ('steward, bailiff'), the source of modern German Meier, is related.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/mayor (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).