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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Sergeant \Ser"geant\, noun [F. sergent, fr. L. serviens, -entis, p. pr. of servire to serve. See {Serve}, and cf. {Servant}.] [Written also {serjeant}. Both spellings are authorized. In England {serjeant} is usually preferred, except for military officers. In the United States {sergeant} is common for civil officers also.]
1. Formerly, in England, an officer nearly answering to the more modern bailiff of the hundred; also, an officer whose duty was to attend on the king, and on the lord high steward in court, to arrest traitors and other offenders. He is now called sergeant-at-arms, and two of these officers, by allowance of the sovereign, attend on the houses of Parliament (one for each house) to execute their commands, and another attends the Court Chancery.
The sergeant of the town of Rome them sought. --Chaucer.
The magistrates sent the serjeant, saying, Let those men go. --Acts xvi. 35.
This fell sergeant, Death, Is strict in his arrest. --Shak.
2. (Mil.) In a company, battery, or troop, a noncommissioned officer next in rank above a corporal, whose duty is to instruct recruits in discipline, to form the ranks, etc.
Note: In the United States service, besides the sergeants belonging to the companies there are, in each regiment, a sergeant major, who is the chief noncommissioned officer, and has important duties as the assistant to the adjutant; a quartermaster sergeant, who assists the quartermaster; a color sergeant, who carries the colors; and a commissary sergeant, who assists in the care and distribution of the stores. Ordnance sergeants have charge of the ammunition at military posts.
3. (Law) A lawyer of the highest rank, answering to the doctor of the civil law; -- called also {serjeant at law}. [Eng.] --Blackstone.
4. A title sometimes given to the servants of the sovereign; as, sergeant surgeon, that is, a servant, or attendant, surgeon. [Eng.]
5. (Zo["o]l.) The cobia.
{Drill sergeant}. (Mil.) See under {Drill}.
{Sergeant-at-arms}, an officer of a legislative body, or of a deliberative or judicial assembly, who executes commands in preserving order and arresting offenders. See {Sergeant}, 1.
{Sergeant major}. (a) (Mil.) See the Note under def. 2, above. (b) (Zo["o]l.) The cow pilot.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
sergeant
noun
1: any of several noncommissioned officer ranks in the army or air force or marines ranking above a corporal
2: a lawman with the rank of sergeant [syn: {police sergeant}]
3: an English barrister of the highest rank [syn: {serjeant-at-law}, {serjeant}, {sergeant-at-law}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
72 Moby Thesaurus words for "sergeant": G-man, MP, NCO, acting corporal, acting sergeant, bailiff, beadle, beagle, bound bailiff, captain, catchpole, centurion, chief of police, chief warrant officer, color sergeant, commissioner, constable, corporal, deputy, deputy sheriff, detective, fed, federal, first sergeant, flic, gendarme, government man, havildar, inspector, lance corporal, lance sergeant, lictor, lieutenant, mace-bearer, marshal, master sergeant, mess sergeant, mounted policeman, naik, narc, noncom, noncommissioned officer, officer, patrolman, peace officer, platoon sergeant, police captain, police commissioner, police constable, police inspector, police matron, police officer, police sergeant, policeman, policewoman, portreeve, reeve, roundsman, sarge, sergeant at arms, sergeant first class, sergeant major, sheriff, staff sergeant, superintendent, technical sergeant, tipstaff, tipstaves, top sergeant, topkick, trooper, warrant officer
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