huissier

plural huissiers

1. archaicA doorman; a domestic officer who guarded the doors to chambers in a mansion or similar large establishment.

   A chorus of five huissiers, or ushers, line up in a row, like sleek crows cawing out comments on the machinations of their masters.

   1999 February 23, Joan Dupont, “From Out of Purgatory, a French Musical Hit”, in The New York Times

   2 more examples

   She had neither chamberlain nor huissier to light the tapers in her chamber when she would retire, and the poor lady passed her time weeping, sighing, and lamenting; and from grief and neglect of herself losing all her beauty.

   1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume II, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 205

   That is because the huissier cannot lead anyone in to see the President of France without first passing through the adjacent office of Jacques Attali.

   1982 February 15, William Safire, “ESSAY; FRANCE'S IDEA MAN”, in The New York Times

2. historicalA huissier de justice, an officer of the court in various European countries roughly similar to a British bailiff.