*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. ] 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 ]

☞ 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 ]

n. Same as Sergeancy. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ CF. OF. sergenteric. ] See Sergeanty. [ R. ] [ Written also serjeantry. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The office of sergeant. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. OF. sergentie, LL. sergentia. See Sergeant. ] (Eng. Law) Tenure of lands of the crown by an honorary kind of service not due to any lord, but to the king only. [ Written also serjeanty. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Grand sergeanty, a particular kind of tenure by which the tenant was bound to do some special honorary service to the king in person, as to carry his banner, his sword, or the like. Tomlins. Cowell. Blackstone. --
Petit sergeanty. See under Petit. [ 1913 Webster ]