sheriff
See also: Sheriff
English
Alternative forms
- shrieve (obsolete)
Etymology
From Middle English shirreve, from Old English scīrġerēfa, corresponding to shire + reeve. There is no etymological connection to Sharif (شَرِيف (šarīf)), an Arabic title of honor that has cognates in other languages like Hindi, Urdu, Portuguese, etc.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈʃɛɹɪf/, /ˈʃɛɹəf/
Noun
sheriff (plural sheriffs)
- (Britain, except Scotland) (High Sheriff) An official of a shire or county office, responsible for carrying out court orders, law enforcement and other duties.
- (Scotland) A judge in the sheriff court, the court of a county or sheriffdom.
- (US) A government official, usually responsible for law enforcement in his county and for administration of the county jail, sometimes an officer of the court, usually elected.
Derived terms
- sheriffalty
- sheriffdom
- sheriffry
- sheriffship
- sheriffwick
Translations
all meanings
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Verb
sheriff (third-person singular simple present sheriffs, present participle sheriffing, simple past and past participle sheriffed)
- To carry out the duties of a sheriff
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