Sergeant

Serjeant , sär′jent, n. a non-commi ioned officer of the army and marines next above a corporal, overlooking the soldiers in barracks, and a isting the officers in all ways in the field: a bailiff: a constable: a servant in monastic offices: a police-officer of superior rank.— ns. Ser′geancy , Ser′geantcy , Ser′geantship , office of a sergeant; Ser′geant-at-arms , an officer of a legislative body for keeping order, .; Ser′geant-fish , the cobra, so called from the lateral stripes; Ser′geant-mā′jor , the highest non-commi ioned officer, employed to a ist the adjutant: the cow-pilot, a fish; Ser′geantry , Ser′geanty , a kind of feudal tenure on condition of service due to the king only; Ser′jeant-at-arms , an officer who attends upon the Lord Chancellor with the mace, and who executes various writs of proce in the course of a Chancery suit: a similar officer who attends on each House of Parliament, and arrests any person ordered by the House to be arrested; Ser′jeant-at-law , formerly in England the highest degree of barrister, once with exclusive audience in the Court of Common Pleas, their proper dre a violet-coloured robe with a scarlet hood, and a black coif, represented in modern times by a patch of silk at the top of the wig.— Grand sergeanty , a tenure of lands by special honorary service to the king; Petit sergeanty , a tenure of lands by a rent or tender. [Fr. sergent —L. serviens , -ent is , pr.p. of servīre , to serve.]