bailiff
An officer of the courtAn officer of the court: 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.
» The defendant handed his paperwork to the bailiff rather than directly to the judge.
Meaning
19 sensesAn officer of the court
(historical)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.
(UK)A high bailiff: an officer of the county courts responsible for executing warrants and court orders, appointed by the judge and removable by the Lord Chancellor.
(UK)A bound bailiff: a deputy bailiff charged with debt collection.
(US)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.
A public administrator
(historical)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.
(historical)An appointee of the French king administering certain districts of northern France in the Middle Ages.
(historical)A head of a district ("bailiwick") of the Knights Hospitaller; a head of one of the national associations ("tongues") of the Hospitallers' headquarters on Rhodes or Malta.
- an officer of the court who is employed to execute writs and processes and make arrests etc.
Examples
2 sentencesThe defendant handed his paperwork to the bailiff rather than directly to the judge.
After the bailiff repossessed Tom's house, he was forced to doss down at a homeless shelter.
Translations
7 languagesBy meaning 1
By meaning 2
By meaning 1
Origin
From Middle English baillif, baylyf, from Anglo-Norman and Old French bailif (plural bailiFrom Middle English baillif, baylyf, from Anglo-Norman and Old French bailif (plural bailis), probably from Vulgar Latin *bāiulivus (“castellan”), from Latin bāiulus (“porter; steward”), whence also bail. As a translation of foreign titles, semantic loan from French bailli, Scots bailie, Dutch baljuw, etc. Mostly replaced the role of native reeve. Doublet of bailo.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source