COUNT (4)

Count, n. [[F. conte, fr. L. comes, comitis, associate, companion, one of the imperial court or train, properly, one who goes with another; com- + ire to go, akin to Skr. i to go.]] A nobleman on the continent of Europe, equal in rank to an English earl. ☞ Though the tittle Count has never been introduced into Britain, the wives of Earls have, from the earliest period of its history, been designated as Countesses. Brande & C. Count palatine. (a) Formerly, the proprietor of a county who possessed royal prerogatives within his county, as did the Earl of Chester, the Bishop of Durham, and the Duke of Lancaster. See County palatine, under County. (b) Originally, a high judicial officer of the German emperors; afterward, the holder of a fief, to whom was granted the right to exercise certain imperial powers within his own domains.