reeve

Meanings

1. Any of several local officials, with varying responsibilities.
2. The president of a township or municipal district council.
3. The holder of a proposed but unadopted commissioned rank of the Royal Air Force, equivalent to wing commander.

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

1. A female of the species Philomachus pugnax, a highly gregarious, medium-sized wading bird of Eurasia; the male is a ruff.

1. A surname originating as an occupation for a bailiff.
2. An unincorporated community in Vance Creek, Barron County, Wisconsin, United States.

Etymology

From Middle English reve, from Old English rēfa, an aphetism of ġerēfa (also groefa), from Proto-West Germanic *garāfijō (“officer, official”). Compare Danish greve, Swedish greve, Dutch graaf, German Graf. The role, and eventually the word, was mostly replaced by bailiff, of Anglo-Norman origin.