sergeant
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.
[1913 Webster]
The sergeant of the town of Rome them sought.
--Chaucer.
[1913 Webster]
The magistrates sent the serjeant, saying, Let those
men go. --Acts xvi.
35.
[1913 Webster]
This fell sergeant, Death,
Is strict in his arrest. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
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.
[1913 Webster]
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.
[1913 Webster]
3. (Law) A lawyer of the highest rank, answering to the
doctor of the civil law; -- called also {serjeant at law}.
[Eng.] --Blackstone.
[1913 Webster]
4. A title sometimes given to the servants of the sovereign;
as, sergeant surgeon, that is, a servant, or attendant,
surgeon. [Eng.]
[1913 Webster]
5. (Zool.) The cobia.
[1913 Webster]
{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.
[1913 Webster]
from
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
SERGEANT or SERJEANT, in the army. An inferior officer of a company of foot,
or troop of dragoons appointed to see discipline observed, to teach the
soldiers the exercise of their arms, and to order, straighten and form
ranks, files, &c.
from
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
72 Moby Thesaurus words for "sergeant":
G-man, MP, NCO, acting corporal, acting sergeant, bailiff, beadle,
beagle, bound bailiff, captain, catchpole, centurion,
chief of police, chief warrant officer, color sergeant,
commissioner, constable, corporal, deputy, deputy sheriff,
detective, fed, federal, first sergeant, flic, gendarme,
government man, havildar, inspector, lance corporal,
lance sergeant, lictor, lieutenant, mace-bearer, marshal,
master sergeant, mess sergeant, mounted policeman, naik, narc,
noncom, noncommissioned officer, officer, patrolman, peace officer,
platoon sergeant, police captain, police commissioner,
police constable, police inspector, police matron, police officer,
police sergeant, policeman, policewoman, portreeve, reeve,
roundsman, sarge, sergeant at arms, sergeant first class,
sergeant major, sheriff, staff sergeant, superintendent,
technical sergeant, tipstaff, tipstaves, top sergeant, topkick,
trooper, warrant officer
[email protected]