from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Sergeant \Ser"geant\, n. [F. sergent, fr. L. serviens, -entis,
p. pr. of servire to serve. See {Serve}, and cf. {Servant}.]
[Written also {serjeant}. Both spellings are authorized. In
England {serjeant} is usually preferred, except for military
officers. In the United States {sergeant} is common for civil
officers also.]
1. Formerly, in England, an officer nearly answering to the
more modern bailiff of the hundred; also, an officer whose
duty was to attend on the king, and on the lord high
steward in court, to arrest traitors and other offenders.
He is now called sergeant-at-arms, and two of these
officers, by allowance of the sovereign, attend on the
houses of Parliament (one for each house) to execute their
commands, and another attends the Court Chancery.
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The sergeant of the town of Rome them sought.
--Chaucer.
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The magistrates sent the serjeant, saying, Let those
men go. --Acts xvi.
35.
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This fell sergeant, Death,
Is strict in his arrest. --Shak.
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2. (Mil.) In a company, battery, or troop, a noncommissioned
officer next in rank above a corporal, whose duty is to
instruct recruits in discipline, to form the ranks, etc.
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Note: In the United States service, besides the sergeants
belonging to the companies there are, in each regiment,
a sergeant major, who is the chief noncommissioned
officer, and has important duties as the assistant to
the adjutant; a quartermaster sergeant, who assists the
quartermaster; a color sergeant, who carries the
colors; and a commissary sergeant, who assists in the
care and distribution of the stores. Ordnance sergeants
have charge of the ammunition at military posts.
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3. (Law) A lawyer of the highest rank, answering to the
doctor of the civil law; -- called also {serjeant at law}.
[Eng.] --Blackstone.
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4. A title sometimes given to the servants of the sovereign;
as, sergeant surgeon, that is, a servant, or attendant,
surgeon. [Eng.]
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5. (Zool.) The cobia.
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{Drill sergeant}. (Mil.) See under {Drill}.
{Sergeant-at-arms}, an officer of a legislative body, or of a
deliberative or judicial assembly, who executes commands
in preserving order and arresting offenders. See
{Sergeant}, 1.
{Sergeant major}.
(a) (Mil.) See the Note under def. 2, above.
(b) (Zool.) The cow pilot.
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