Come ashore, admitting being a laird? (10)

I believe the answer is:

landowning

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'a laird?' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are singular nouns.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?

'come ashore admitting' is the wordplay.
'come ashore' becomes 'land' (I've seen this before).
'admitting' becomes 'owning' (I've seen this before).
'land'+'owning'='LANDOWNING'

'being' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for landowning that I've seen is " Like a laird".)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.

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