viscount ( s silent), vicont, vicount, vicounte, vycount

[Fr. vicomte; O. Fr. vis conte, from Latin vice com item, acc us. of vice comes =one who fills the place of a count or earl: vice = in the place of, and comes a companion, a count, an earl.] *1. An officer who supplied the place of the count or earl, and acted as his deputy in the management of the affairs of the county, in reality filling the office of sheriff. "The viscont , called either pro comes or vice comes, in time past gouerned in the countie vnder the earle."Holinshed: Descr. England, bk. ii., ch. v. 2. A degree or title of nobility ranking next below an earl, and above a baron. It is the most recently established English title of nobility, having been first conferred by letters patent from Henry VI. on John Lord Beau IMG:content-0536.png:[graphic] IMG:content-0537.png:[graphic] mont, in A. D. 1440. The title of viscount is frequently held in England as the second title of an earl, and is borne by the eldest son as a courtesy title during the life of his father. The coronet of a vis count of England is composed of a circle of gold, chased, having on the edge British Viscount's Coronet. twelve, fourteen, or sixteen pearls; the cap of crimson velvet, turned up with ermine, and closed at the top with a rich ta el of gold. 3. An officer of the Crown in Jersey, who performs the duties of an English coroner. He has a deputy viscount, who acts in his absence.