serjeant

Noun

sergeant (plural sergeants)

1. A UK army rank with NATO code OR-6, senior to corporal and junior to warrant officer ranks.

   Synonyms:

   sarge, sarnt

2. The highest rank of noncommissioned officer in some non-naval military forces and police.
   • “Yes, there are two distinct sets of footprints, both wearing rubber shoes—one I think ordinary plimsolls, the other goloshes,” replied the sergeant.1928, Lawrence R. Bourne, chapter 13, in Well Tackled!
3. (historical) A lawyer of the highest rank, equivalent to the doctor of civil law.
   • All other sergeants and barristers indiscriminately (except in the Court of Common Pleas, where only sergeants are admitted) may take upon them the protection and defense of any suitors.1765–1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (please specify |book=I to IV), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC
4. (UK, historical) A title sometimes given to the servants of the sovereign.
   • sergeant surgeon, i.e. a servant, or attendant, surgeon
5. A bailiff.
6. A servant in monastic offices.

See all 11 meanings of sergeant

Noun

serjeants-at-law (plural serjeants-at-law)

1. (historical) A member of an order of barristers at the English and Irish Bar, who for many centuries had exclusive jurisdiction over the Court of Common Pleas.

   Synonyms:

   serjeant, SL