sheriff

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See also: Sheriff

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

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

Noun

sheriff (plural sheriffs)

  1. (British, 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. (transitive) To carry out the duties of a sheriff. (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:)

See also

Anagrams

Spanish

Spanish Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia es

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English sheriff.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈʃeɾif/
  • Rhymes: -eɾif
  • Syllabification: she‧riff

Noun

sheriff m (plural sheriffs)

  1. sheriff (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