sheriff
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
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 edit
Noun edit
sheriff (plural sheriffs)
- (Britain, except Scotland) (High Sheriff) An official of a shire or county office, responsible for carrying out court orders, law enforcement and other duties.
- (Scotland) A judge in the sheriff court, the court of a county or sheriffdom.
- (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 edit
Translations edit
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Verb edit
sheriff (third-person singular simple present sheriffs, present participle sheriffing, simple past and past participle sheriffed)
- To carry out the duties of a sheriff
See also edit
- hatti-sherif (etymologically unrelated)
Anagrams edit
Spanish edit
Etymology edit
Unadapted borrowing from English sheriff.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
sheriff m (plural sheriffs)
Usage notes edit
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 edit
- “sheriff”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014