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provost marshal

American  
[proh-voh] / ˈproʊ voʊ /

noun

  1. Army. an officer on the staff of a commander, charged with the maintaining of order and with other police functions within a command.

  2. Navy. an officer charged with the safekeeping of a prisoner pending trial by court-martial.


provost marshal British  
/ prəˈvəʊ /

noun

  1. the officer in charge of military police and thus responsible for military discipline in a large camp, area, or city

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of provost marshal

First recorded in 1525–35

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

A provost marshal enters the incident into a military database that puts the FBI on notice so it can enter the name into a background list of people prevented from buying weapons.

From Seattle Times Oct. 28, 2023

Gen. Duane Miller, who as deputy provost marshal general is the Army’s No. 2 law enforcement official.

From Seattle Times Jun. 14, 2021

An Army provost marshal clashes with a detective over a murder at the San Francisco military base.

From Los Angeles Times Jan. 10, 2020

He spent much of his Army career as a military police officer and was provost marshal at West Point from 1952 to 1955.

From Washington Post Dec. 31, 2017

The man was thereupon arrested and sent to the provost marshal at Tullahoma.

From A Narrative of Service with the Third Wisconsin Infantry by Hinkley, Julian Wisner

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