Word.ws English Dictionary

Hansard

Syllables: Han·sardUK/ˈhænsəd/US/ˈhænsɚd/

Hansard proper noun: a surname.

hansard: a surname
Image: various, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Proper noun

Hansard

  1. A surname.
    • The Armes of a very ancient Family, ſettled at Kelſey in the County, which came to them by the Marriage of the Heireſs of Hanſard.1726, Samuel Kent, “Of Whole-footed Beasts”, in The Banner Display’d: Or, An Abridgment of Guillim: Being a Compleat System of Heraldry, in All Its Parts. […] In Two Volumes, volume I, London...
    • Walworth, (Durham,) near Heighington, was anciently the ſeat of the Nevils; from whom it paſſed by marriage to the Hanſards, one of the baron-families of the Bpk [bishoprick].1751, Stephen Whatley, “Walworth”, in England’s Gazetteer; or, An Accurate Description of All the Cities, Towns, and Villages of the Kingdom. […], volume II, Printed for J. and P. Knapton, D. Browne...

Noun (1)

Hansard (plural Hansards)

  1. (also, attributive, historical) A member of a Hanse (“merchant guild”), or a resident of a Hanse town.
    • The cloſe of the thirteenth century appears to been have a remarkable era in the commercial hiſtory of London. In 1296, the company of merchant-adventurers was firſt incorporated by Edward I. The Hanſards, or Hanſe merchants, also received conſiderable privileges about the ſame time.1819, Abraham Rees, “LONDON”, in The Cyclopædia; or, Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Literature. [...] In Thirty-nine Volumes, volume XXI, London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme...
    • The merchants of the Hanse Towns, or Hansards, as they were then commonly termed, were established in London at a very early period, and their factory here was of considerable magnitude and importance.1871, J[ohn] R[amsay] M‘Culloch, “HANSEATIC LEAGUE”, in Hugh G. Reid, editor, A Dictionary Practical, Theoretical, and Historical of Commerce and Commercial Navigation. […], new revised and corrected...

Noun (2)

Hansard (plural Hansards)

  1. (Commonwealth, UK) The official report of debates and other proceedings in the British and some Commonwealth parliaments.
    • Mr. BURNS thought that if they were to have a Hansard at all, they should take steps to have it thoroughly well done, and he would be very glad if they could get rid of these corrections altogether. He thought the exact words, or as nearly as possible the exact words, should be put into the...1868 October 16, A[rthur] J[ohn] Burns, “Reporting Debates”, in New Zealand. Parliamentary Debates. Third Session of the Fourth Parliament. […] (House of Representatives), volume IV, Wellington: G....
    • Now, Hansard's Debates originated in the year 1803, and through the enterprize of a son of the late Mr. Luke Hansard, who had been so long connected with the printing of the House, these Debates had supplied the Parliament with a very accurate record of its proceedings. They were cited continually...1875 May 4, Mitchell Henry, “Parliament—Publication of Debates and Exclusion of Strangers.—Resolution.”, in Hansard’s Parliamentary Debates, […] (House of Commons), volume CCXXIV (Third Series), 3rd...

Hansard meaning in Malay and Indonesian

Hansard in Malay

official report of debates and other proceedings in the British and some Commonwealth parliaments
Hansard, penyata rasmi

Hansard in Indonesian

official report of debates and other proceedings in the British and some Commonwealth parliaments
Hansard

Examples of Hansard in a sentence

  • The earlier commercial fisheries of the northern Atlantic waters were mainly of herring and mackerel, taken by nets in the North and Norwegian seas and marketed abroad by Hansard merchants.1975, Carl Ortwin Sauer, “Early Sixteenth Century (1501–1518)”, in Sixteenth Century North America: The Land and the People as Seen by...
  • The Hansards enjoyed extensive trading privileges in England, especially at the Steelyard in London, yet they offered their English counterparts no such commercial concessions in their own markets.2015, Charles D. Stanton, “The German Hanse: Martial Merchants of the Baltic”, in Medieval Maritime Warfare, Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Pen...
  • BURNS thought that if they were to have a Hansard at all, they should take steps to have it thoroughly well done, and he would be very glad if they could get rid of these corrections altogether.1868 October 16, A[rthur] J[ohn] Burns, “Reporting Debates”, in New Zealand. Parliamentary Debates. Third Session of the Fourth Parliament....
  • Now, Hansard's Debates originated in the year 1803, and through the enterprize of a son of the late Mr.1875 May 4, Mitchell Henry, “Parliament—Publication of Debates and Exclusion of Strangers.—Resolution.”, in Hansard’s Parliamentary...

Forms of Hansard

pluralHansards

Origin of Hansard

PIE word *ḱóm From Middle English hansard (“merchant or citizen of a Hanseatic town; member of a merchant guild; a surname”), from hanse, hansze, hanze, haunse (“merchant guild; the Hanseatic League; member of the Hanseatic League; membership fee for a merchant guild; payment in general”) + -ard (suffix forming adjectives and nouns). Hanse is derived from Old French hanse (“merchant guild; membership fee for a merchant guild”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm (“beside, by; with; along”) + *sed- (“to sit”). The English word is analysable as Hanse (“merchant guild; the Hanseatic League”) + -ard (suffix forming agent nouns, especially pejorative ones).

From Hansard, the surname of Thomas Curson Hansard (1776–1833), an English printer who inherited the business of printing reports of parliamentary debates and proceedings from his father Luke Hansard (1752–1828). T. C. Hansard added his name to the title of the reports from 1829, and from about 1859 they began to be referred to generically as “Hansards”.

Words formed from Hansard

Questions about Hansard

What does Hansard mean?
Hansard means a surname.
What is Hansard in Malay?
Hansard in Malay is Hansard, penyata rasmi. See Hansard meaning in Malay.
How do you use Hansard in a sentence?
The earlier commercial fisheries of the northern Atlantic waters were mainly of herring and mackerel, taken by nets in the North and Norwegian seas and marketed abroad by Hansard merchants.
What part of speech is Hansard?
Hansard can be a proper noun or a noun.
How do you pronounce Hansard?
Hansard is pronounced /ˈhænsəd/ (UK).

Words near Hansard in the dictionary

  1. Hans Gruber
  2. Hans in kelder
  3. Hans Island
  4. Hans Lollik Island
  5. Hans Wurst
  6. Hansard
  7. Hansardize
  8. Hansardized
  9. Hansardizes
  10. Hansardizing
  11. Hansards

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Hansard (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-Hansard.ogg.

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