GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

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1.       
   Sergeant , 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.]
   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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   (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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   ☞ 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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   (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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   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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   (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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