Hypertext Webster Gateway: "selectman"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Selectman \Se*lect"man\, n.; pl. {Selectmen}.
One of a board of town officers chosen annually in the New
England States to transact the general public business of the
town, and have a kind of executive authority. The number is
usually from three to seven in each town.
The system of delegated town action was then, perhaps,
the same which was defined in an ``order made in 1635
by the inhabitants of Charlestown at a full meeting for
the government of the town, by selectmen;'' the name
presently extended throughout New England to municipal
governors. --Palfrey.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
selectman
n : an elected member of a board of officials who run New
England towns
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