bailiff

plural bailiffs

1. An officer of the court
   1. historicalNorman termgovernmentA reeve, (specifically) the chief officer executing the decisions of any English court in the period following the Norman Conquest or executing the decisions of lower courts in the late medieval and early modern period.
   2. UKgovernmentA high bailiff: an officer of the county courts responsible for executing warrants and court orders, appointed by the judge and removable by the Lord Chancellor.
   3. UKgovernmentA bound bailiff: a deputy bailiff charged with debt collection.
   4. USgovernmentAny law enforcement officer charged with courtroom security and order.

      Synonyms: high bailiff, high-bailiff, warrant officer, beadle, catchpoll, bumbailiff, process server

   5. governmentA huissier de justice or other foreign officer of the court acting as either a process server or as courtroom security.
2. A public administrator
   1. obsoleteA king's man: any officer nominated by the English Crown.
   2. historicalSynonym of hundredman: The chief officer of a hundred in medieval England.

      Synonyms: hundredman

   3. The title of the mayor of certain English towns.

      Synonyms: High-bailiff, High Bailiff, mayor

   4. The title of the castellan of certain royal castles in England.

      Synonyms: castellan

   5. The chief justice and president of the legislature on Jersey and Guernsey in the Channel Islands.

      1 more example

      The Bailiff of Jersey is the President of the States and acts as Speaker of the Assembly in the Westminster tradition. He is responsible for the orderly conduct of the States Assembly and its business. As Presiding Officer he has the right of speech – which is mainly exercised for ensuring the orderly conduct of the proceedings – but he cannot vote.

      2011 June 29, “The Bailiff of Jersey”, in States Assembly, retrieved 03 Mar 2013

      Synonyms: bailly

   6. The High Bailiff of the Isle of Man.
   7. obsoleteA bailie: an alderman in certain Scottish towns.

      Synonyms: bailie

   8. historicalAn appointee of the French king administering certain districts of northern France in the Middle Ages.

      Synonyms: consul, capitoul, jurat

   9. historicalA head of a district ("bailiwick") of the Knights Hospitaller; a head of one of the national associations ("tongues") of the Hospitallers' headquarters on Rhodes or Malta.
   10. historicalA landvogt in the medieval German states.

       Synonyms: landvogt

3. A private administrator, particularly
   1. historicalA steward: the manager of a medieval manor charged with collecting its rents, etc.
   2. historicalAn overseer: a supervisor of tenant farmers, serfs, or slaves, usually as part of his role as steward (see above).

      1 more example

      Nothing was too small to receive attention, if a supervising eye could suggest improvements likely to conduce to the common welfare. Mr. Gordon Burnage, for instance, personally visited dust-bins and back premises, accompanied by a sort of village bailiff, going his round like a commanding officer doing billets.

      1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIX, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

   3. historicalbusinessThe foreman or overman of a mine.
4. UKslangAny debt collector, regardless of his or her official status.

plural Bailiffs

1. A surname originating as an occupation.