constable

See also: Constable

English

Etymology

From Middle English constable, cunstable, constabil, connestable, cunestable, from Old French conestable, from Latin comes stabulī (“officer of the stables”). For the sense-development, compare marshal.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkʌnstəbəl/
• IPA^(key): /ˈkɑnstəbəl/

Noun

constable (plural constables)

1. One holding the lowest rank in most Commonwealth police forces. (See also chief constable.)
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 19, in The China Governess‎^[1]:

     As soon as Julia returned with a constable, Timothy, who was on the point of exhaustion, prepared to give over to him gratefully. The newcomer turned out to be a powerful youngster, fully trained and eager to help, and he stripped off his tunic at once.

2. (UK, law) A police officer or an officer with equivalent powers.
3. (historical) An officer of a noble court in the Middle Ages, usually a senior army commander. (See also marshal).
4. The warden of a castle.
5. (US) A public officer, usually at municipal level, responsible for maintaining order or serving writs and court orders.
6. (Channel Islands) An elected head of a parish (also known as a connétable)
7. A large butterfly, Dichorragia nesimachus, family Nymphalidae, of Asia.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:police officer

Derived terms

• constabulary
• cst. / CST (abbreviation)

Translations

police officer rank

• Bulgarian: полицай (bg) m (policaj)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 警官 (zh) (jǐngguān)

• Czech: konstábl (cs) m
• Finnish: konstaapeli (fi); nuorempi konstaapeli, vanhempi konstaapeli
• French: constable (fr)
• Greek: αστυφύλακας (el) (astyfýlakas)
• Irish: constábla m
• Italian: appuntato (carabinieri) m, agente (polizia) m
• Japanese: 捕方 (torikata)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Malay: konstabel
• Maori: kātipa
• Persian: آژان (fa) (âžân)
• Portuguese: agente (pt) m
• Russian: консте́бль (ru) m (konstéblʹ)
• Scottish Gaelic: maor-sìthe m
• Swedish: konstapel (sv) c
• Vietnamese: quản đốc (vi)
• Welsh: cwnstabl m

officer of a noble court

• Armenian:

  Middle Armenian: գունդստապլ (gundstapl)

• Finnish: konnetaabeli (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• French: connétable (fr) m or f
• Portuguese: condestável m
• Russian: консте́бль (ru) m (konstéblʹ), коннетабль (ru) m (konnetablʹ)

elected head of a parish

• French: connétable (fr) m or f
• Latin: praepositus villae
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Norman: (Guernsey) counnétablle m, (Jersey) connêtabl'ye m

Verb

1. (intransitive, dated) To act as a constable or policeman.

Anagrams

• balconets