From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishearldomearl‧dom /ˈɜːldəm $ ˈɜːrl-/ noun [countable] 1 PGthe rank of an earl2 SCLthe land or property belonging to an earl
Examples from the Corpus
earldom• Lieutenant Denholm is the heir to an earldom.• The Duke's lesser titles include a couple of earldoms, a barony or two and the lordship of Eskdale.• In the prince's earldom of Chester there were even fewer changes.• When the heir to the Spencer earldom got married three years ago, Guppy was his best man.• Three of his daughters by Elizabeth married into families holding the earldoms of Suffolk, Lincoln, and Rutland.• Their union, in 1664, had only produced one daughter before he was killed; the earldom became extinct.• He was compensated by being raised, on 19 June 1627, to the earldom of Sunderland.• In 1930 he succeeded to the earldom and to an alarming load of debt. 