an officer, steward, bailiff, or governor; -- used chiefly in compounds; as, shirereeve, now written sheriff; portreeve, etc.
gerefa (Old English), praepositus, prepositus (Latin)] A royal official, or a manor official appointed by the lord or elected by the peasants. (MEDIEV-L. Medieval Terms) Manorial overseer, usually a villager elected by tenants of the manor. (Gies, Joseph and Francis. Life in a Medieval Castle, 231) Officer responsible for the general management of a manor (usually selected from among the manor's tenants). (Bennett, Judith M. Women in the Medieval English Countryside, 234) The lord's official on the manor who supervised labour dues and renders owed by peasants. (Wood, Michael. Domesday: A Search for the Roots of England, 214) Principal manorial official under the bailiff, always a villein. (Gies, Frances and Joseph. Life in a Medieval Village, 245) The usual word for an O.E. official, including the scirgerefa (sheriff) and portgerefa (port reeve, town reeve); continued to be used in towns after the Norman Conquest (later sometimes interchangeable with "bailiff"), generally for the officials responsible for paying the king's or lord's dues. (Reynolds, Susan. An Introduction to the History of English Medieval Towns, 200)