livery company

9.9

An old City of London group for people in the same trade that holds ceremonies and supports charity

noun
/ˈlɪvəri ˈkʌmpəni/

: compañía de livery

Members of the livery company participated in a grand parade to celebrate their centuries-old heritage.

Examples

Today, his descendant William has been the linchpin of this commemoration through his good offices of his livery company, the Stationers.
The livery company played a vital role in supporting local charities and preserving traditional skills.
As part of their annual charity event, the livery company hosted a banquet for community leaders.

Surface Forms

livery company singular

livery companies plural

Morphology

livery + company

The sense 'historic trade or craft association in the City of London' is not derivable from 'livery' (a uniform) + 'company' (an organization); a learner would more likely infer a firm that supplies uniforms. This is a specialized, historically grounded institutional term with an archaic sense of 'livery' and therefore unpredictable to a B1 learner who only knows the literal constituents.

Etymology

Livery company comes from old trade groups whose members wore a special coat called livery to show they belonged to the same company. These groups looked after their members, gave money to good causes and took part in city ceremonies, so today a livery company means one of those old trade groups in the City of London.