Definition of "boyar" []

• 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. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "No matter how much money there is to be made in Russia these days, it ultimately doesn't count for much the day a boyar or simple chinovnik decides to take it away."
• "They attach themselves as a rule to some great noble or boyar, and call themselves by his name."
• "All fire — simply explosive as gunpowder — and stately as a boyar!"