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The chief officer of a shire or county, to whom is intrusted the execution of the laws, the serving of judicial writs and processes, and the preservation of the peace.

The office or jurisdiction of sheriff. See Shrievalty.

A sheriff's deputy.

Undershrievalty. [Obs.]

To depose from the office of sheriff. [R.]

as of dower or pasture held in common. This was by writ of admeasurement, directed to the sheriff.

to put questions. Formerly, in the English Court of Exchequer, an officer who audited the sheriffs' accounts.

An officer in Scotland, whose office formerly corresponded to that of sheriff, but now corresponds to that of an English alderman.

A sheriff's deputy, appointed to make arrests, collect fines, summon juries, etc.

that flourish about right of search was bunkum -- all that brag about hanging your Canada sheriff was bunkum . . . slavery speeches are all bunkum. Haliburton. To speak for Buncombe, to speak for mere show, or popularly.

An officer who has charge of preserving the public peace, as a justice or sheriff.

city or town having the privilege to be a county by itself, and to be governed by its own sheriffs and other magistrates, irrespective of the officers of the county in which it is situated; as London, York, Bristol, etc. [Eng.] Mozley & W. -- County court, a court whose jurisdiction is limited to county. -- County pa…

lieutenant; a representative; a delegate; a vicegerent; as, the deputy of a prince, of a sheriff, of a township, etc. There was then [in the days of Jehoshaphat] no king in Edom; a deputy was king. 1 Kings xxii. 47. God's substitute, His deputy anointed in His sight. Shak.

s washing the ink rollers and sweeping), etc. "Without fearing the printer's devil or the sheriff's officer." Macaulay. -- Tasmanian devil (Zoöl.), a very savage carnivorous marsupial of Tasmania (Dasyurus, or Diabolus, ursinus). -- To play devil with, to molest extremely; to ruin. [Low]

A writ commanding the sheriff to distrain a person by his goods or chattels, to compel a compliance with something required of him.

hooser; one of two persons appointed by a court to return a jury or serve a writ when the sheriff and the coroners are disqualified.

o a distance, or beyond the jurisdiction, or to conceal, as goods liable to distress. The sheriff may return that the goods or beasts are eloigned. Blackstone.

from my people. Ezek. xlv. 9. Daily new exactions are devised. Shak. Illegal exactions of sheriffs and officials. Bancroft.

ay; perquisite; as, the fees of lawyers and physicians; the fees of office; clerk's fees; sheriff's fees; marriage fees, etc. To plead for love deserves more fee than hate. Shak.

A judicial writ that lies for one who has recovered in debt or damages, commanding the sheriff that he cause to be made of the goods, chattels, or real estate of the defendant, the sum claimed. Blackstone. Cowell.