bailiff
/ˈbeɪlɪf/ noun C2- A reeve, (specifically) the chief officer executing the decisions of any English court in the period following the Norman Conquest or executing the decisions of lower courts in the late medieval and early modern period.
- Any law enforcement officer charged with courtroom security and order.
- A huissier de justice or other foreign officer of the court acting as either a process server or as courtroom security.
- Synonym of hundredman: The chief officer of a hundred in medieval England.
- The title of the mayor of certain English towns.
- The title of the castellan of certain royal castles in England.
- The chief justice and president of the legislature on Jersey and Guernsey in the Channel Islands.
- The High Bailiff of the Isle of Man.
Plural bailiffs
From the library
why should you thus, of your own accord, incur destruction and trust yourself in the house of your enemy?” The Stag replied: “Only allow me, friend, to stay where I am, and I will undertake to find some favourable opportunity of effecting my escape.” At the approach of the evening the herdsman came to feed his cattle, but did not see the Stag; and even the farm-bailiff with several laborers passed through the shed and failed to notice him.
There, disguised under other names, and concealed under other costumes, are police agents, magistrates, attorneys-general, and bailiffs.
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