rotten borough

名词 n.
中文释义
英 /ˌɹɒtn̩ ˈbʌɹə/    美 /ˌɹɑtn̩ ˈbʌɹoʊ/|/-ˈbɜ-/|[ˌɹɑʔn̩-]

英文释义

名词 n.
  1. 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,historical
    — […] Queen's Crawley was no longer so populous a place as it had been in Queen Bess's time—nay, was come down to that condition of borough which used to be denominated rotten–yet, as Sir Pitt Crawley would say with perfect justice in his elegant way, "Rotten! be hanged—it produces me a good fifteen hundred a year."
  2. A parliamentary constituency or electoral district in a similar situation. UK,broadly

词形变化

rotten boroughs plural

词源

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.
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