top sergeant

noun Military Slang.

Origin of top sergeant

First recorded in 1915–20

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

When Newt scowled in that fashion the top-sergeant was troubled with apprehension.
The Code of the Mountains
Charles Neville Buck
His top-sergeant had seen to that, even though the soldier had surreptitiously sought to slip a revolver inside his army shirt.
The Code of the Mountains
Charles Neville Buck
Top-Sergeant Peter Spooner glanced at that scowl, and a faint frown crossed his own features.
The Code of the Mountains
Charles Neville Buck
If he paused even a second in his reports a top-sergeant's yell from the Colonel's throat came back for him to keep talking.
Shipwreck in the Sky
Eando Binder
Then early in the afternoon my top-sergeant got a bayonet, and a hand-grenade got a group of my non-commissioned officers.
Soldier Silhouettes on our Front
William L. Stidger