WordWealth: bailiwick

bail·i·wick , n.

1. the district within which a bailie or bailiff has jurisdiction.

2. a person's area of skill, knowledge, authority, or work: to confine suggestions to one's own bailiwick.

[1425–75; late ME, equiv. to baili- BAILIE + wick WICK3]

—Syn.2. domain, department, sphere, territory, turf. (Random House Webster's Unabridged). Look at Thesaurus

Nobody knew who had issued the request or hired the unqualified security officer who carried it out. The evidence pointed to Hillary, but she denied responsibility. If her denials were false, she probably committed indictable offenses. Janet Reno sat on her hands until she got all these matters out of her bailiwick by handing them off to the independent counsel. —— Robert H. Bork in Justice Denied; As President Clinton has time after time made a mockery of his oath of office, his attorney general has followed suit; The National Review; Sep 1, 1998

He has been in enough trouble over the years for straying into sentencing policy and other matters beyond his brief to do so again. But the structure of the prison system and the contribution it makes to cutting crime is very much within his bailiwick. —— Philip Johnston; Imprisoned by Bureaucracy; The Telegraph; Jan 16, 2001
 

However, in south and west Belfast, straw polls showed a strong tide running for the agreement. In Fermanagh and Tyrone, the turnout was higher than normal, presaging a high Yes vote. In Londonderry, indications were of a 2-1 vote in favour. Even in Ballymena, Ian Paisley's bailiwick, many voters said they had voted Yes, though John McCartney was not one of them. "It's not right to let terrorist killers out of jail," he said outside the town hall.—— Philip Johnston; United in a Desire to Stop the Killings; The Telegraph; May 23, 1998

Bailiwick comes from Middle English baillifwik, from baillif, "bailiff" (ultimately from Latin bajulus, "porter, carrier") + wik, "town," from Old English wic, from Latin vicus, "village."

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