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sheriff

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sher·iff

   [sher-if]
noun
1.
the law-enforcement officer of a county or other civil subdivision of a state.
2.
(formerly) an important civil officer in an English shire.
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Origin:
before 1050; Middle English sher(r)ef, Old English scīrgerēfa. See shire, reeve1

Related forms
sher·iff·dom  [sher-if-duhm] , noun
sub·sher·iff, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Sheriff is always a great word to know.
So is interrobang. Does it mean:
a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
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Example Sentences
  • Clearly, the students and the sheriff don't have a problem with concealed carry being allowed on campus.
  • One was even saved from being shot by a local sheriff in a roundup of strays in small town.
  • And the sheriff has a thousand eyes, covering every inch of the sky.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
sheriff (ˈʃɛrɪf)
 
—n
1.  (in the US) the chief law-enforcement officer in a county: popularly elected, except in Rhode Island
2.  (in England and Wales) the chief executive officer of the Crown in a county, having chiefly ceremonial dutiesRelated: shrieval
3.  (in Scotland) a judge in any of the sheriff courts
4.  (in Australia) an administrative officer of the Supreme Court, who enforces judgments and the execution of writs, empanels juries, etc
5.  (in New Zealand) an officer of the High Court
 
Related: shrieval
 
[Old English scīrgerēfa, from scīrshire1 + gerēfareeve1]
 
'sheriffdom
 
—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

sheriff
late O.E. scirgerefa "representative of royal authority in a shire," from scir (see shire) + gerefa "chief, official, reeve" (see reeve). In Anglo-Saxon England, the representative of royal authority in a shire. As an American county official, attested from 1662; sheriff's sale first recorded 1798.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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