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DictionarylairdScottish landowner
noun

laird

LAIRD/lerd/

An owner of a landed estate in Scotland.

The laird owns a large estate in the Scottish Highlands.

On a large Scottish estate, a landowner holds the manor keys while standing among fenced fields, cottages, and workers who look to him for decisions.
Etymology
laiOld Englishbread, loaf
+rdOld Englishkeeper, guardian

The bread and guardian pieces originally described a 'keeper of the loaves,' hence a household master. Laird is the Scottish form of lord specialized for a landed proprietor, especially a hereditary estate-holder.

In context

Scotland History Tours speaker4:47
…the Laird was no longer their leader, but was the landlord.
HIGHLAND CLEARANCES, HENRY DUNDAS, AND THE SCOTTISH SLAVE TRADE: Oh, and the Duke of Sutherland
Graeme Macrae Burnet5:37
the seaware from the shore (the seaweed) because all these were the property of the laird.
Writing. . . His Bloody Project, with Graeme Macrae Burnet

More examples

  • Local farmers rent fields from the laird.
  • She becomes laird when she inherits her family's Scottish estate.
  • Several lairds agree to restore woodland on their estates.

Forms

laird · lairds

Similar words

landowner
A broader term for anyone who owns land anywhere.
proprietor
An owner of property or a business, not necessarily land.