Viscount \Vis"count`\, n. [OE. vicounte, OF. visconte, vescunte, F. vicomte, LL. vicecomes; L. vice (see Vice, a.) + comes a companion, LL., a count. See Count.]

1. (O. Eng. Law) An officer who formerly supplied the place of the count, or earl; the sheriff of the county.

2. A nobleman of the fourth rank, next in order below an earl and next above a baron; also, his degree or title of nobility. See Peer, n., 3. [Eng.]

--Chaucer.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)