noun · rare

rotten borough

rotten borough · rotten boroughs

гнилое местечко

A parliamentary borough that was represented in Parliament although the number of…A parliamentary borough that was represented in Parliament although the number of voters had diminished so greatly that they were largely controlled by the main landowner; such boroughs were abolished in the 19th century.

UK/ˌɹɒtn̩ ˈbʌɹə/US/ˌɹɑtn̩ ˈbʌɹoʊ/

Meaning

2 senses

(UK, historical)A parliamentary borough that was represented in Parliament although the number of voters had diminished so greatly that they were largely controlled by the main landowner; such boroughs were abolished in the 19th century.
гнило́е месте́чкоgnilóje mestéčko
(UK, broadly)A parliamentary constituency or electoral district in a similar situation.
an English parliamentary constituency with few electors

Translations

5 languages

Русский

By meaning 1

parliamentary borough represented in Parliament although the number of voters had diminished so greatly they were largely controlled by the main landowner; parliamentary constituency or electoral district in a similar situation:

Origin

From rotten (“in a state of decay”) + borough (“type of administrative district”), because

From rotten (“in a state of decay”) + borough (“type of administrative district”), because such boroughs were regarded as having “decayed” due to their voters moving away to other places.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source