See Also: sergeant(medicine)
sergeant(dictionary)
sergeant(dictionary)
sergeant major(dictionary)
staff sergeant(dictionary)
SERGEANT or SERJEANT, Eng(law)
flight sergeant(dictionary)
Bilko, Sergeant(dictionary)
sergeant-major(dictionary)
SERGEANT AT ARMS(law)

sergeant (iou)



sergeant noun. Also serjeant (see note below), (esp. in titles) Sergeant. ME.
[Old French sergent, serjent (mod. sergent) from Latin servient- pres. ppl stem of servire SERVE verb1: see -ENT.]
A serving-man, an attendant, a servant. ME-L16.
A common soldier. ME-L15.
A tenant by military service below the rank of knight; esp. one attending a knight in the field. Only in ME.
An officer whose duty is to enforce the judgements of a tribunal or the commands of a person in authority, arrest offenders, or summon people to appear before a court. Long obsolete exc. Hist. ME.
(Now serjeant.) Law (now Hist.). More fully serjeant-at-law, pl. serjeants-at-law. A member of the highest rank of barristers (abolished in 1880) from which common-law judges were formerly chosen. ME.
The head, or an officer, of a specified department of the royal household. Usu. used preceding a designation of office. LME.
sergeant-painter, sergeant-surgeon, sergeant-trumpet, etc.
Any of various officials of a court, guild, city, etc., with ceremonial duties. LME.
Military. An army officer. In mod. use, a non-commissioned army, air force, or marines officer usu. ranking below warrant officer (or lieutenant) and above corporal. Also used preceding a designation of office. M16.
sergeant bugler, sergeant cook, sergeant drummer, sergeant-pilot, etc.
(Now -g-.) A police officer, of higher rank than a constable, ranking next below an inspector in Britain and next below a captain in the US. M19.
Phrases & comb.: Common Sergeant: see COMMON adjective. Dashing White Sergeant: see DASHING ppl adjective. FIRST sergeant. King's Serjeant, Queen's Serjeant Hist. an honorary title given to certain serjeants-at-law, orig. supposed to have the duty of pleading in the courts on behalf of the Crown. orderly sergeant: see ORDERLY adjective. sergeant-at-arms, pl. sergeants-at-arms, orig., an armed officer in the service of a lord, spec. each of a body of men of knightly rank, originally 24 in number, required to attend the monarch personally, to arrest traitors and other offenders; now, an officer of the House of Lords, House of Commons, or Lord Chamberlain's Office whose duty includes maintaining order and security; an officer with similar duties elsewhere, as in the US Senate and House of Representatives. sergeant-at-law: see sense 5 above. sergeant-at-mace, pl. sergeants-at-mace, a legal officer of lesser rank who carries a mace as a badge of office. Sergeant Baker Austral. a brightly coloured fish, Aulopus purpurissatus, of southern Australian coasts. sergeant-fish any of various fishes having marks like the stripes on the sleeve of a sergeant's uniform, esp. the cobia, Rachycentron canadum. sergeant of arms, pl. sergeants of arms, = sense 6 above. sergeant of law, pl. sergeants of law, = sense 5 above. sergeant of the coif, pl. sergeants of the coif, = sense 5 above. top sergeant: see TOP adjective.
? The spelling serjeant is now usu. restricted to legal and ceremonial offices, exc. in historical and in certain official contexts.
sergeantship noun the rank or office of sergeant or serjeant LME.