bencher

plural benchers

1. CanadalawA senior member of a law society in a Canadian province (except New Brunswick).
2. UKlawOne of the senior governing members of an Inn of Court.

   There is Pump Court and Fountain Court, with their hydraulic apparatus, but one never heard of a bencher disporting in the fountain; and can’t but think how many a counsel learned in the law of old days might have benefited by the pump.

   1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 30, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC

3. UKobsoleteAn alderman of a corporation.

   ten of them Aldermen, or chief Benchers

   1719, Elias Ashmole, The Antiquity of Berkshire

4. obsoleteA member of a court or council.

   Come, come, you are well understood to be a perfecter / giber for the table than a necessary bencher in the / Capitol.

   c. 1605–1608, William Shakespeare, Coriolanus, act 2, scene 1, lines 76–78

5. obsoleteOne who frequents the benches of a tavern; an idler.