Dictionary
Find
in
Dictionary
Thesaurus
Translations

Click to move up the list of words
Sherwood Forest
Shetland
Shetland Islands
Shetland pony
Shetland sheepdog
Shetland wool
Shevat
shew
shewbread
SHF
shh
Shia
shiatsu
shibboleth
shidduch
shield
shield law
Click to move down the list of words
Also available:

World English Dictionary
Dictionnaire Français

sheriff

sher·iff [ shérrif ] (plural sher·iffs)


noun 
Definition:
 
1. U.S. county law enforcement officer: in the United States, the chief law enforcement officer for a county, whose duties are sometimes restricted to the enforcement of the orders of the courts

2. senior official of English county: in England and Wales, the senior representative of the monarch in a county, who performs ceremonial and some judicial duties

3. Scottish judge: in Scotland, a judge who presides over one of the lower courts for civil and criminal cases

4. Canadian court officer: in Canada, an officer of the courts who assists with the administration of the justice system, e.g. by serving writs

5. Australian court official: in Australia, a court official charged with managing juries and implementing orders from the Supreme Court

[ Old English scīrgerēfa "reeve of the shire" < scīr "shire" + gerēfa "reeve"]

sher·iff·dom noun
Advertisement

© 2009 Microsoft