\Ser"geant\, n. [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.