bailiff

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A court attendant entrusted with duties such as the maintenance of order in a courtroom during a trial.
2. n. An official who assists a British sheriff and who has the power to execute writs, processes, and arrests.
3. n. Chiefly British An overseer of an estate; a steward.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A subordinate civil officer or functionary. There are in England several kinds of bailiffs, whose offices differ widely, but all agree in this, that the keeping or protection of something belongs to them. The sheriff is the sovereign's bailiff, and his county is a bailiwick. The name is also applied to the chief magistrates of some towns, to keepers of royal castles, as of Dover, to persons having the conservation of the peace in hundreds and in some special jurisdictions, as Westminster, and to the returning-officers in the same. But the officials commonly designated by this name are the bailiffs of sheriffs, or sheriffs' officers, who execute processes, etc., and bailiffs of liberties, appointed by the lords in their respective jurisdictions to perform similar functions.
2. n. An overseer or under-steward on an estate, appointed to manage forests, direct husbandry operations, collect rents, etc. Also called a bailiff of forests, or bailiff in husbandry.
3. n. An officer of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem.
4. n. In London, an officer who supervises the inspection of fish brought into the city.

Wiktionary

1. n. law A legal officer to whom some degree of authority, care or jurisdiction is committed.
2. n. UK The steward or overseer of an estate.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. Originally, a person put in charge of something; especially, a chief officer, magistrate, or keeper, as of a county, town, hundred, or castle; one to whom powers of custody or care are intrusted.
2. n. (Eng. Law) A sheriff's deputy, appointed to make arrests, collect fines, summon juries, etc.
3. n. engraving An overseer or under steward of an estate, who directs husbandry operations, collects rents, etc.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. an officer of the court who is employed to execute writs and processes and make arrests etc.