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sheriff

 - 4 dictionary results
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sher⋅iff

  [sher-if]
Use sheriff in a Sentence
–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.
Origin:
bef. 1050; ME sher(r)ef, OE scīrgerēfa. See shire, reeve 1

Related forms:
sher⋅iff⋅dom  [sher-if-duhm] , noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Law Enforcement Degree
Earn a Criminal Justice Degree at Westwood Los Angeles Campus
www.Westwood.edu/CriminalJustice
Find Your Jails Inmates?
Jails Inmates Search. No Charge! View Jails Inmates Information Now.
Records-Folder.Com/Jails/Lookup
sher·iff   (shěr'ĭf)   
n.  

  1. The chief law enforcement officer for the courts in a U.S. county.

  2. An officer of a county or an administrative region in England, Northern Ireland, and Scotland, charged mainly with judicial duties.


[Middle English, the representative of royal authority in a shire, from Old English scīrgerēfa : scīr, shire + gerēfa, reeve.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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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, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Legal Dictionary

Main Entry: sher·iff
Function: noun
Etymology: Old English scIrgerEfa, from scIr shire + gerEfa reeve (king's agent)
: an official of a county or parish charged primarily with judicial duties (as executing the processes and orders of courts and judges)
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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