The Lords is the short name for the House of Lords, one of the two houses of the British parliament — the other is the House of Commons. When people say “the Lords,” they mean that house, or the people who sit in it, taken as a group: “the Lords voted against the bill.” Members are not chosen by a public vote. Most are given a seat for life; a few are bishops of the Church of England; a very small number still inherit a seat from their family, though actually that old path is now tiny. The name still sounds like “lords” in the old sense — high-ranking people — but many members today are not from old noble families. British news uses “the Lords” all the time; it feels official and a little old. Other countries have an upper house, but they do not call it the Lords.