sheriff

See also: Sheriff

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English shirreve, from Old English sċīrġerēfa, corresponding to shire + reeve. There is no etymological connection to Sharif (شَرِيف (šarīf)), an Arabic title of honour that has cognates in other languages including Hindi, Urdu, Portuguese, etc.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈʃɛɹɪf/, /ˈʃɛɹəf/
  • (file)
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -ɛɹɪf, -ɛɹəf

Noun

sheriff (plural sheriffs)

  1. (Britain, except Scotland) (High Sheriff) An official of a shire or county office, responsible for carrying out court orders, law enforcement and other duties.
  2. (Scotland) A judge in the sheriff court, the court of a county or sheriffdom.
  3. (US) A government official, usually responsible for law enforcement in their county and for administration of the county jail, sometimes an officer of the court, usually elected.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

sheriff (third-person singular simple present sheriffs, present participle sheriffing, simple past and past participle sheriffed)

  1. To carry out the duties of a sheriff

See also

Anagrams

Spanish

Etymology

Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈʃeɾif/ [ˈʃe.ɾif]
  • Rhymes: -eɾif
  • Syllabification: she‧riff

Noun

sheriff m (plural sheriffs)

  1. Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value) (all senses)
    Synonym: alguacil

Usage notes

According to Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) prescriptions, unadapted foreign words should be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

Further reading

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