noun. A tenure in England and Scotland under which property of the king or a lord in a town was held in return for a yearly rent or the rendering of a service.

noun. A plate having perforations which serve as standards for the diameters of drills, etc.

noun. In law: In England, a tenure in socage, whereby burgesses, citizens, or townsmen hold their lands or tenements of the king or other lord for a certain yearly rent.

noun. In Scotland, that tenure by which the property in royal burghs is held under the crown, proprietors being liable to the (nominal) service of watching and warding; or, as it is commonly termed, “service of burgh, used and wont.” The property so held.

noun. A tenure by which houses or lands are held of the king or other lord of a borough or city; at a certain yearly rent, or by services relating to trade or handicraft.

noun. a medieval tenure in socage under which property in England and Scotland was held under the king or a lord of a town, and was maintained for a yearly rent or for rendering an inferior service (not knight's service) such as watching and warding.

"In some places (the so-called "scot and lot" boroughs) the suffrage was exercised by all rate-payers; in others, by the holders of particular tenements ( "burgage" franchise); in others (the "potwalloper" (p.  024) boroughs) by all citizens who had hearths of their own; in many, by the municipal corporation, or by the members of a guild, or even by neighboring landholders."