Lōrd1, n.
n. [O. Eng. laverd, loverd, A-S. hlāford, lā-ford, for hlāfweard, i. e., bread-keeper, from hlāf, bread, loaf, and weardian, to look after, to take care of, to ward; O. Scot. lawyrd, Scot. laird; Icel. lafa-vardr, lávarðr, lávarðr. Cf. LADY.]
Sense 1. One who is in a position of responsibility or power; a superior; a master; a ruler; a governor; a prince.
But now I was the lord Of this fair mansion. Shak.
Man over man He made not lord. Milton.
Sense 2. A baron; the proprietor of a manor; a nobleman of any rank above that of a baronet; hence, by courtesy, the son of a duke or marquis, or the eldest son of an earl; and also a bishop, if a member of Parliament. [Eng.]
Sense 3. A title bestowed on the persons above named; and also, for honor, on certain official characters, attendants, or representatives of majesty: as, lord advocate, lord chamberlain, lord chancellor, lord chief justice, &c. [Eng.]
Sense 4. A husband. “My lord being old also.” Gen. xviii. 12.
Aloft in bitterness of soul deplored My absent daughter and my dearer lord. Pope.
Sense 5. The Supreme Being; Jehovah.
When Lord, in the Old Testament, is printed in capitals, it is the translation of Jehovah, and might, with more propriety, be so rendered.
House of Lords, one of the constituent parts of the British Parliament, consisting of the lords spiritual and temporal. — Lord advocate, the principal crown lawyer, or public prosecutor. — Lord high chancellor. See CHANCELLOR. — Lord-keeper (Eng.), an ancient officer of the crown, who had the custody of the king’s great seal, with authority to affix it to public documents. The office is now merged in that of the chancellor. — Lord-lieutenant, a representative of royalty, the lord-lieutenant of Ireland being the representative of royalty there, and exercising supreme administrative authority, and the lord-lieutenant of a county, a deputy to manage its military concerns, and also to nominate to the chancellor the justices of the peace for that county. — Lord of misrule, the master of the revels at Christmas in a nobleman’s or other great house. Eng. Cyc. — Lords spiritual, the archbishops and bishops who have seats in the House of Lords, being two archbishops of England and one representative archbishop of Ireland, twenty-four English bishops and three representative Irish bishops. — Lords temporal, the peers of England, of full age and not incapacitated by mental imbecility, chiefly of hereditary rank, under the names of dukes, earls, marquises, viscounts, and barons; also, sixteen representative peers of Scotland, and twenty-eight representatives of the Irish peerage. — Our Lord, Jesus Christ; the Savior.