constable
(noun) a lawman with less authority and jurisdiction than a sheriff
constable, police constable
(noun) a police officer of the lowest rank
Constable, John Constable
(noun) English landscape painter (1776-1837)
Source: WordNet® 3.1
constable (plural constables)
One holding the lowest rank in most Commonwealth police forces. (See also chief constable.)
(UK, law) A police officer or an officer with equivalent powers.
(historical) An officer of a noble court in the Middle Ages, usually a senior army commander. (See also marshal).
The warden of a castle.
(US) A public officer, usually at municipal level, responsible for maintaining order or serving writs and court orders.
(Channel Islands) An elected head of a parish (also known as a connétable)
A large butterfly, Dichorragia nesimachus, family Nymphalidae, of Asia.
• See police officer
constable (third-person singular simple present constables, present participle constabling, simple past and past participle constabled)
(intransitive, dated) To act as a constable or policeman.
• balconets
Constable
An English occupational surname from Old French conestable (“constable”).
A town in Franklin County, New York; named for landowner William Constable.
• balconets
Source: Wiktionary
Con"sta*ble, n. Etym: [OE. conestable, constable, a constable (in sense 1), OF. conestable, F. conn, LL. conestabulus, constabularius, comes stabuli, orig., count of the stable, master of the horse, equerry; comes ount (L. ompanion) + L. stabulum stable. See Count a nobleman, and Stable.]
1. A high officer in the monarhical establishments of the Middle Ages.
Note: The constable of France was the first officer of the crown, and had the chief ommand of the army. It was also his duty to regulate all matters of chivalry. The office was suppressed in 1627. The constable, or lord high constable, of England, was one of the highest officers of the crown, commander in chief of the forces, and keeper of the peace of the nation. He also judicial cognizance of many important matters. The office was as early as the Conquest, but has been disused (except on great and solemn occasions), since the attainder of Stafford, duke of Buckingham, in the reign of Henry VIII.
2. (Law)
Definition: An officer of the peace having power as a conservator of the public peace, and bound to exeute the warrants of judicial offiers. Bouvier.
Note: In England, at the present time, the constable is a conservator of the peace within his district, and is also charged by various statutes with other duties, such as serving summons, precepts, warrants, etc. In the United States, constables are town or its officers of the peace, with powers similar to those of the constables of England. In addition to their duties as conservators of the peace, they are invested with others by statute, such as to execute civil as well as criminal process in certain cases, to attend courts, keep juries, etc. In some cities, there are officers called high constables, who act as shiefs of the constabulary or police force. In other cities the title of constable, as well as the office, is merged in that of the polie officer. High constable, a constable having certain duties and powers within a hundred. [Eng.] -- Petty constable, a conservator of the peace within a parish or tithing; a tithingman. [Eng.] -- Special constable, a person appointed to act as constable of special occasions.
– To overrun, or outrun, the constable, the spend more than one's income; to get into debt. [Colloq.] Smollett.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
23 June 2025
(noun) members of a family line; “his people have been farmers for generations”; “are your people still alive?”
The Boston Tea Party helped popularize coffee in America. The hefty tea tax imposed on the colonies in 1773 resulted in America switching from tea to coffee. In the lead up to the Revolutionary War, it became patriotic to sip java instead of tea. The Civil War made the drink more pervasive. Coffee helped energize tired troops, and drinking it became an expression of freedom.
