Definition of "graaf"

The knights of St. John once had here their dwelling, or commandery, as it was called, but had removed in 1312 to a new building within the city of Haarlem, where they were richly endowed by Graaf William the Good, who also conferred on them numerous privileges, of which not the least was, that the commander of the order should thenceforth be the host of the graafs.

1847, J[acob] van Lennep, translated by Frank Woodley, The Rose of Dekama; or, The Friesian Heiress. A Tale. (The Library of Foreign Romance, and Novel Newspaper: Comprising Standard English Works of Fiction, and Original Translations from the Most Celebrated Continental Authors, volume VIII), London: Bruce and Wyld, […], page 36, column 1

However, when I tell you that the Queen of England and the Duke of Edinburgh were there, and the King of Norway, and the Shah of Persia and Queen Farah Diba, and the Prince Michael of Greece, and Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, and Prince Bertil of Sweden, plus nearly fifty assorted princes and princesses, dukes, barons, graafs and gravins, meurows and heers, you will begin to see just how high a high point it was in the Amstel’s history.

1976, Christopher Matthew, A Different World: Stories of Great Hotels, Paddington Press Ltd., page 17

And they always had an excuse, didn’t they? They, them, those—the rich men, the graafs and their bullyboys, the freemen, the knights, the mercenary chiefs, the militiamen, the lords and ladies… And now he was one of them. Would that he hadn’t drowned his old da, so the wicked asshole could have seen his son become a graaf before being hanged for whatever crimes Sander saw fit to charge him with.

2012, Jesse Bullington, The Folly of the World, Orbit, page 231

And so the graafs mounted their huge steeds and fled, breaking through the enemy lines.

2016, Daniel O’Malley, Stiletto, New York, N.Y., Boston, Mass., London: Little, Brown and Company, page 82