Sergeant /(?)/

Ser·geant

Sergeant

n.
  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.
    The sergeant of the town of Rome them sought.
    The magistrates sent the serjeant, saying, Let those men go.
    — Acts xvi. 35.
    This fell sergeant, Death, Is strict in his arrest.
  2. 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. (Mil.)
  3. A lawyer of the highest rank, answering to the doctor of the civil law; -- called also serjeant at law. (Law) [Eng.]
  4. A title sometimes given to the servants of the sovereign; as, sergeant surgeon, that is, a servant, or attendant, surgeon. [Eng.]
  5. The cobia. (Zool.)

Phrases & Compounds
Drill sergeant
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
See the Note under def. 2, above.