Found 2 items, similar to sergeant major.
English → English (WordNet) Definition: sergeant major sergeant major n 1: a noncommissioned officer serving as chief administrative officer of a headquarters unit of the army 2: large blue-gray black-striped damselfish; nearly worldwide [syn: Abudefduf saxatilis]
English → English (gcide) Definition: Sergeant major Sergeant \Ser"geant\, n. [F. sergent, fr. L. serviens, -entis, p. pr. of servire to serve. See Serve, and cf. Servant.] [Written also serjeant. Both spellings are authorized. In England serjeant is usually preferred, except for military officers. In the United States sergeant is common for civil officers also.] 1. Formerly, in England, an officer nearly answering to the more modern bailiff of the hundred; also, an officer whose duty was to attend on the king, and on the lord high steward in court, to arrest traitors and other offenders. He is now called sergeant-at-arms, and two of these officers, by allowance of the sovereign, attend on the houses of Parliament (one for each house) to execute their commands, and another attends the Court Chancery. [1913 Webster] The sergeant of the town of Rome them sought. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster] The magistrates sent the serjeant, saying, Let those men go. --Acts xvi. 35. [1913 Webster] This fell sergeant, Death, Is strict in his arrest. --Shak. [1913 Webster] 2. (Mil.) In a company, battery, or troop, a noncommissioned officer next in rank above a corporal, whose duty is to instruct recruits in discipline, to form the ranks, etc. [1913 Webster] Note: In the United States service, besides the sergeants belonging to the companies there are, in each regiment, a sergeant major, who is the chief noncommissioned officer, and has important duties as the assistant to the adjutant; a quartermaster sergeant, who assists the quartermaster; a color sergeant, who carries the colors; and a commissary sergeant, who assists in the care and distribution of the stores. Ordnance sergeants have charge of the ammunition at military posts. [1913 Webster] 3. (Law) A lawyer of the highest rank, answering to the doctor of the civil law; -- called also serjeant at law. [Eng.] --Blackstone. [1913 Webster] 4. A title sometimes given to the servants of the sovereign; as, sergeant surgeon, that is, a servant, or attendant, surgeon. [Eng.] [1913 Webster] 5. (Zo["o]l.) The cobia. [1913 Webster] Drill sergeant. (Mil.) See under Drill. Sergeant-at-arms, an officer of a legislative body, or of a deliberative or judicial assembly, who executes commands in preserving order and arresting offenders. See Sergeant, 1. Sergeant major. (a) (Mil.) See the Note under def. 2, above. (b) (Zo["o]l.) The cow pilot. [1913 Webster]