Se-lēct'măn, n.

n.; pl. SE-LĒCT'MĒN. [From select and man.] A town officer chosen annually, in the New England States, to manage the concerns of the town, provide for the poor, &c. The number is usually from three to seven in each town, and these constitute a kind of executive authority.

The system of delegated town action was then, perhaps, the same which was defined in an "order made in 1655 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. Palfrey.