Word.ws English Dictionary

birley

birley is the obsolete form of bylaw.

Meaning of bylaw

Noun

bylaw (plural bylaws)

  1. A local custom or law of a settlement or district.
  2. (in plural, often) A rule made by a local authority to regulate its own affairs.
    Synonyms:
    ordinance
    1. (countable, in plural, often, singular) A numbered provision within such kind of legislation.
  3. A law or rule governing the internal affairs of an organization (e.g., corporation or business).

Proper noun capitalized: Birley

Birley (countable and uncountable, plural Birleys)

  1. A small village in Birley with Upper Hill parish, Herefordshire, England (OS grid ref SO4553).
  2. A suburb and ward of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England (OS grid ref SK403398).
  3. A habitational surname from Old English.

Forms of birley

Noun
pluralbirleys
Proper noun
pluralBirleys

Origin of birley

From Old English būr (“chamber, room”) + lēah (“woodland clearing, glade”). Equivalent to bower + -ley (“lea”).

Words formed from birley

Questions about birley

What does birley mean?
Birley means a small village in Birley with Upper Hill parish, Herefordshire, England (OS grid ref SO4553).
What is birley the obsolete form of?
Birley is the obsolete form of bylaw.
What part of speech is birley?
Birley is a proper noun.

Words near birley in the dictionary

  1. birle
  2. birled
  3. birler
  4. birlers
  5. birles
  6. birley
  7. Birley with Upper Hill
  8. birleys
  9. birlie
  10. birlies
  11. birling

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: birley (page history and authors); Birley (page history and authors); bylaw (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “birley.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/birley. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.