boyar

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bo·yar

 (bō-yär′, boi′ər)
n.
A member of a class of higher Russian nobility that until the time of Peter I headed the civil and military administration of the country and participated in an early duma.

[Alteration (influenced by French boyard, from Russian boyarin) of Early Modern English boiaren, from Russian boyarin, from Old Russian bolyarinŭ, from Old Church Slavonic, probably from Bulgar Turkic (Turkic language of a Turkic tribe that settled in the Volga and Danube basins in the early Middle Ages ) *boyla er, noble man : boyla, Turkic nobleman of a rank below a khan (akin to Old Turkic boylā) + *er, man (akin to Turkish Old Turkic er).]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

boyar

(ˈbəʊjɑː; ˈbɔɪə)
n
(Heraldry) a member of an old order of Russian nobility, ranking immediately below the princes: abolished by Peter the Great
[C16: from Old Russian boyarin, from Old Slavonic boljarinǔ, probably from Old Turkic boila a title]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

bo•yar

(boʊˈyɑr, ˈbɔɪ ər)

also bo•yard

(-ˈyɑrd, -ərd)

n.
1. a member of the nobility of Russia, before Peter the Great.
2. a member of a former privileged class in Romania.
[1585–95; earlier boiaren < Russian boyárin]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
Translations
References in classic literature ?
(It seemed to Napoleon that the chief import of what was taking place lay in the personal struggle between himself and Alexander.) "From the height of the Kremlin- yes, there is the Kremlin, yes- I will give them just laws; I will teach them the meaning of true civilization, I will make generations of boyars remember their conqueror with love.
'Boyars,' I will say to them, 'I do not desire war, I desire the peace and welfare of all my subjects.' However, I know their presence will inspire me, and I shall speak to them as I always do: clearly, impressively, and majestically.
A general with a brilliant suite galloped off at once to fetch the boyars.
His speech to the boyars had already taken definite shape in his imagination.
They were not alarmed by the fact that Moscow had been abandoned by its inhabitants (grave as that fact seemed), but by the question how to tell the Emperor- without putting him in the terrible position of appearing ridiculous- that he had been awaiting the boyars so long in vain: that there were drunken mobs left in Moscow but no one else.
I am a Boyar. The common people know me, and I am master.
Mark Coleman , Virgin Media; Anjum Gill, Nicole Boyars (both Beechcroft LLP) Bhavesh Prajapati, Weightmans; Verona Cocks, Weightmans; David Milford, consultant, Kidney Unit, Birmingham Children's Hospital; Sonat Gosai, Weightmans
Neville Boyars, owner of fancy dress shop Smiffy's, said: "At the moment, with Liverpool One now open, Bold Street is becoming just a passing through zone and that's going to be the same for any location in the town.
Nicola Boyars is a solicitor at commercial law firm, Beachcroft.
The program includes: Strauss' `Fanfare for the Vienna Philharmonic,' Holst's `A Fugal Overture,'' Percy Grainger's `Irish Tune From County Derry,' Johan Halvorsen's `Entry March of the Boyars' and Sergey Prokofiev's `March.'
Also, characters would often compose larger images: crowds, mobs, drunken boyars. It would be distracting if each had a different personality projecting its own internal conflict; the audience would not see a crowd.
Although showing some political sense in rallying support in Poland and augmenting his invading forces in Russia, False Dimitry, having seized the throne with the help of influential boyars (large landowners of ancient and influential families) who were seeking a means to put down popular unrest, proved an inept ruler and was overthrown by a violent mob less than a year after he seized the throne.