benchers

Noun

bencher (plural benchers)

1. (Canada) A senior member of a law society in a Canadian province (except New Brunswick).
2. (UK) One of the senior governing members of an Inn of Court.
   • There is Pump Court and Fountain Court, with their hydraulic apparatus, but one never heard of a bencher disporting in the fountain; and can’t but think how many a counsel learned in the law of old days might have benefited by the pump.1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 30, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published...
3. (UK, obsolete) An alderman of a corporation.
   • ten of them Aldermen, or chief Benchers1719, Elias Ashmole, The Antiquity of Berkshire
4. (obsolete) A member of a court or council.
   • Come, come, you are well understood to be a perfecter / giber for the table than a necessary bencher in the / Capitol.c. 1605–1608, William Shakespeare, Coriolanus, act 2, scene 1, lines 76–78
5. (obsolete) One who frequents the benches of a tavern; an idler.