SELECTMAN • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Selectman

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noun

Selectman n. (pl. selectmen) One of a board of town officers chosen annually in the New England States to transact the general public business of the town, and have a kind of executive authority. The number is usually from three to seven in each town. "The system of delegated town action was then, perhaps, the same which was defined in an "order made in 1635 by the inhabitants of Charlestown at a full meeting for the government of the town, by selectmen;" the name presently extended throughout New England to municipal governors."

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Etymology of 'Selectman'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Selectman" Quotes from Famous Books

... utter temperance man, though moderate in his potations. I suspect he would turn out a pattern character of the upper class of New England yeomen, if I had an opportunity of studying him. Doubtless he had been selectman, representative, and justice, and had filled all but weighty offices. He was highly pleased with the new mill contrivance, and expressed his opinion that, when his neighbors saw the success of his, it would be extensively introduced ...

— Passages From The American Notebooks, Volume 1 • Nathaniel Hawthorne

Words linked to "Selectman" : elected official