reeve

Meanings

Noun

• Any of several local officials, with varying responsibilities.
• The president of a township or municipal district council.
• The holder of a proposed but unadopted commissioned rank of the Royal Air Force, equivalent to wing commander.
• A female of the species Philomachus pugnax, a highly gregarious, medium-sized wading bird of Eurasia; the male is a ruff.

Verb

• To pass (a rope) through a hole or opening, especially so as to fasten it.

Related

Similar words

• provost

Origin

• From Middle English reve, from Old English rēfa, an aphetism of ġerēfa (also groefa), from Proto-West Germanic *garāfijō. Compare Danish greve, Swedish greve, Dutch graaf, German Graf. Role, and later word, mostly replaced by bailiff, of Anglo-Norman origin.
• Apparent alternative form of reef or from Dutch reven.