1. An inhabitant or freeman of a borough or town.
2. A magistrate of a borough.
3. A person entitled to vote at elections.
4. A representative of a borough or town in Parliament.
“[Burgesses] are properly Men of Trade, or the Inhabitants of a Borow or Walled Town; yet we usually apply this name to the Magistrates of such a Town, as the Bailiff and Burgesses of Leominster. But we do now usually call those Burgesses who serve in Parliament, for any such Borow or Corporation.” Thomas Blount, Nomo-Lexicon: A Law-Dictionary (1670).
