Definition of BAILIFF

bailiff

Meanings

Plural: bailiffs

Noun

  • an officer of the court who is employed to execute writs and processes and make arrests etc.
  • An officer of the court
  • A 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.
  • An officer of the court
  • A 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.
  • An officer of the court
  • A bound bailiff: a deputy bailiff charged with debt collection.
  • An officer of the court
  • Any law enforcement officer charged with courtroom security and order.
  • An officer of the court
  • A huissier de justice or other foreign officer of the court acting as either a process server or as courtroom security.
  • A public administrator
  • A king's man: any officer nominated by the English Crown.
  • A public administrator
  • Synonym of hundredman: The chief officer of a hundred in medieval England.
  • A public administrator
  • The title of the mayor of certain English towns.
  • A public administrator
  • The title of the castellan of certain royal castles in England.
  • A public administrator
  • The chief justice and president of the legislature on Jersey and Guernsey in the Channel Islands.
  • A public administrator
  • The High Bailiff of the Isle of Man.
  • A public administrator
  • A bailie: an alderman in certain Scottish towns.
  • A public administrator
  • An appointee of the French king administering certain districts of northern France in the Middle Ages.
  • A public administrator
  • A 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.
  • A public administrator
  • A landvogt in the medieval German states.
  • A private administrator, particularly
  • A steward: the manager of a medieval manor charged with collecting its rents, etc.
  • A private administrator, particularly
  • An overseer: a supervisor of tenant farmers, serfs, or slaves, usually as part of his role as steward (see above).
  • A private administrator, particularly
  • The foreman or overman of a mine.
  • Any debt collector, regardless of his or her official status.

Origin / Etymology

From Middle English baillif, baylyf, from Anglo-Norman and Old French bailif (plural bailis), probably from Vulgar Latin *bāiulivus (“castellan”), from Latin bāiulus (“porter; steward”), whence also bail. As a translation of foreign titles, semantic loan from French bailli, Scots bailie, Dutch baljuw, etc. Mostly replaced the role of native reeve. Doublet of bailo.

Synonyms

bailie, bailly, beadle, bumbailiff, capitoul, castellan, catchpoll, consul, High Bailiff, high bailiff, High-bailiff, high-bailiff, hundredman, jurat, landvogt, mayor, overseer, process server, steward, warrant officer

Scrabble Score: 15

bailiff is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL word
bailiff is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
bailiff is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 17

bailiff is a valid Words With Friends word