tipstaff
Americannoun
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an attendant or crier in a court of law.
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a staff tipped with metal, formerly carried as a badge of office, as by a constable.
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any official who carried such a staff.
noun
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a court official having miscellaneous duties, mostly concerned with the maintenance of order in court
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a metal-tipped staff formerly used as a symbol of office
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of tipstaff
1535–45; shortened form of earlier tipped staff; see tip 1, -ed 3, staff 1
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.
Preceded by his tipstaff wearing a black frock coat and carrying a white staff topped with an elaborate gold crown, in came the judge.
From The Guardian • Mar. 19, 2017
"Are you, then, a tipstaff, or a bailiff, or a turnkey?" demanded the gipsy, "that you should pursue me, as if the warrant were placed in your hands for execution!"
From The Gipsy (Vols I & II) A Tale by James, G. P. R. (George Payne Rainsford)
What are the tipstaff and crier, and what are their duties?
From Civil Government of Virginia by Fox, William Fayette
"I think you will be able to get anything out of him, when you get him there," said the tipstaff.
From A Jacobite Exile Being the Adventures of a Young Englishman in the Service of Charles the Twelfth of Sweden by Henty, G. A. (George Alfred)
The climax of the miserable business was reached when to a taunt that his ancestry was nothing, "his father a wretched tipstaff," Napoleon replied by challenging his tormentor to fight a duel.
From The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte Vol. I. (of IV.) by Sloane, William Milligan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
