bailiff

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bail·iff

(bā′lĭf)

1. A court attendant entrusted with duties such as the maintenance of order in a courtroom during a trial.

2. An official who assists a British sheriff and who has the power to execute writs, processes, and arrests.

3. Chiefly British An overseer of an estate; a steward.

[Middle English baillif, from Old French baillis, baillif-, overseer of an estate, steward, from Medieval Latin *bāiulīvus, from Latin bāiulus, carrier.]

bail′iff·ship′ n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

bailiff

(ˈbeɪlɪf)

1. (Professions) Brit the agent or steward of a landlord or landowner

2. (Professions) a sheriff's officer who serves writs and summonses, makes arrests, and ensures that the sentences of the court are carried out

3. (Law) chiefly Brit (formerly) a high official having judicial powers

4. (Professions) chiefly US an official having custody of prisoners appearing in court

[C13: from Old French baillif, from bail custody; see bail¹]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

bail•iff

(ˈbeɪ lɪf)

n.

1. an officer, similar to a sheriff, employed to keep order in the court, make arrests, etc.

2. (in Britain) a person charged with local administrative authority, or the chief magistrate in a town.

3. (esp. in Britain) an overseer of a landed estate or farm.

[1250–1300; Middle English baillif < Old French, derivative of bail custody; see bail¹]

bail′iff•ship`, n.

bailiff

An official of a court, especially one who maintains order or is in charge of prisoners.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun

bailiff - an officer of the court who is employed to execute writs and processes and make arrests etc.

functionary, official - a worker who holds or is invested with an office

Translations

fattore ufficiale giudiziario

amman baljuwdrossaarddrostgerechtsdeurwaarder

bailiff

[ˈbeɪlɪf] N

1. (Jur) → alguacil m

2. (on estate) → administrador(a) m/f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

bailiff

[ˈbeɪlɪf] n

(in law court) → huissier/ière m/f; (for evictions) → huissier/ière m/f
to send in the bailiffs → envoyer l'huissier

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

bailiff

(Jur) (Brit: also sheriff’s bailiff) → Amtsdiener(in) m(f); (Brit: for property) → Gerichtsvollzieher(in) m(f); (US: in court) → Gerichtsdiener(in) m(f)

(Brit: on estate) → (Guts)verwalter(in) m(f), → Landvogt(in) m(f) (obs)

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

bailiff

[ˈbeɪlɪf] n (Law) → ufficiale m giudiziario; (on estate) → amministratore m, fattore m

References in classic literature ?

The bailiff's daughter, like me, was an only child; and, like me, she had no playfellows.

She agreed with the easy philosophy of the bailiff, already recorded in these pages: "They're only children.

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The bailiff came in, and said everything, thank God, was doing well; but informed him that the buckwheat in the new drying machine had been a little scorched.

I'll come and look at her," he said to the bailiff.

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My lady got me put under the bailiff, and I did my best, and gave satisfaction, and got promotion accordingly.

As for me, I went on with my business as bailiff year after year up to Christmas 1847, when there came a change in my life.

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"He could not have gone far, sir bailiff," cried one of the archers, unslinging his bow.

"It shall never be said, whilst I am bailiff of Southampton, that any waster, riever, draw-latch or murtherer came scathless away from me and my posse.

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Four of the bailiff of the palace's sergeants, perfunctory guardians of all the pleasures of the people, on days of festival as well as on days of execution, stood at the four corners of the marble table.

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It was a lady whom he let in at the bailiff's door.

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"The poet, my lord, belongs to the lowest scale, the same style of board as the small tradesman and bailiff's clerk; but I repeat, it is to those people only that I give these little surprises."

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However, I did as he bade me, that you may be sure; and having thus taken my leave of him, I never saw him more, for he found means to break out of the bailiff's house that night or the next, and go over into France, and for the rest of the creditors scrambled for it as well as they could.