bailiff

«bailiff» in Mova's school dictionary: An official who has the legal power to take goods from… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a bailiff, bailiffs)

meaning for a pupil

1) (law, UK) An official who has the legal power to take goods from someone's home, or make them leave it, when they have not paid money they owe. tree →

2) (law, US) An officer who keeps order in a courtroom. tree →

3) (history) In old times, a man who managed a lord's land and farm workers. tree →

sense in the lessons

In adult-life lessons bailiffs appear when a family is in debt; they may come to take things to pay what is owed, which can be very worrying. In US court scenes on TV the bailiff says «All rise». In history lessons the medieval bailiff ran the manor. Phrases: «send in the bailiffs», «the bailiffs came», «court bailiff».

examples

• The bailiffs came to take the car because the bills were not paid. tree →
• The bailiff in the courtroom asked everyone to stand. tree →
• In the castle, the bailiff checked that the peasants worked. tree →
• Families in debt can get advice so the bailiffs don't come. tree →
• The bailiff knocked on the door with a letter from the court. tree →
• In the story, the cruel bailiff took the farmer's cow. tree →
• “I have hold of it now,” cried the bailiff. tree →

note

Countable. Spelled with double f at the end. In Scotland the similar officer is a sheriff officer. Sensitive word in talk about money troubles.

In the corpora

• Bailiffs can collect money owed only after a court decision and many warnings, under strict rules, and cannot take essentials.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «bailiff» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.