top sergeant

noun

, Military Slang.

First recorded in 1915–20

The Deacon was cut out for handling men, and was winning the name of an unusually efficient top-sergeant.

His top-sergeant had seen to that, even though the soldier had surreptitiously sought to slip a revolver inside his army shirt.

Top-Sergeant Peter Spooner glanced at that scowl, and a faint frown crossed his own features.

Our top-sergeant was scoring badly at six hundred yards, and the lieutenant said, “Let me try your gun.”

Roused by a smart shower, I heard Taps blown, and the top sergeant going up and down the street.

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