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| a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare. |
| a chattering or flighty, light-headed person. |
| sergeant at arms | |
| —n | |
| 1. | an officer of a legislative or fraternal body responsible for maintaining internal order |
| 2. | (formerly) an officer who served a monarch or noble, esp as an armed attendant |
sergeant at arms
an officer of a legislative body, court of law, or other organization who preserves order and executes commands. In feudal England a sergeant at arms was an armed officer of a lord and was often one of a special body required to be in immediate attendance on the king's person, to arrest traitors and other offenders. Through this function, the title of sergeant at arms eventually came to denote certain court, parliamentary, and city officials with ceremonial (and ostensibly disciplinary) functions. Each house of the British Parliament has a sergeant at arms, as does each house of the U.S. Congress. The duties of the sergeant at arms in the British House of Commons include attendance on the speaker, with the mace, and the maintenance of order in the House and its precincts. The sergeants of the U.S. Congress have similar duties
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