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Serf
(Serf) n. [F., fr. L. serus servant, slave; akin to servare to protect, preserve, observe, and perhaps
originally, a client, a man under one's protection. Cf. Serve, v. t.] A servant or slave employed in
husbandry, and in some countries attached to the soil and transferred with it, as formerly in Russia.
In England, at least from the reign of Henry II, one only, and that the inferior species [of villeins], existed
. . . But by the customs of France and Germany, persons in this abject state seem to have been called
serfs, and distinguished from villeins, who were only bound to fixed payments and duties in respect of
their lord, though, as it seems, without any legal redress if injured by him. Hallam. Syn. — Serf, Slave. A slave is the absolute property of his master, and may be sold in any way. A
serf, according to the strict sense of the term, is one bound to work on a certain estate, and thus attached
to the soil, and sold with it into the service of whoever purchases the land.
Serfage
(Serf"age Serf"dom) , n. The state or condition of a serf.
Serfhood
(Serf"hood Serf"ism) n. Serfage.
Serge
(Serge) n. [F. serge, sarge, originally, a silken stuff, fr. L. serica, f. or neut. pl. of sericus
silken. See Sericeous, Silk.] A woolen twilled stuff, much used as material for clothing for both sexes.
Silk serge, a twilled silk fabric used mostly by tailors for lining parts of gentlemen's coats.
Serge
(Serge), n. [F. cierge.] A large wax candle used in the ceremonies of various churches.
Sergeancy
(Ser"gean*cy) n.; pl. Sergeancies [Cf. Sergeanty.] The office of a sergeant; sergeantship.
[Written also serjeancy.]
Sergeant
(Ser"geant) n. [F. sergent, fr. L. serviens, -entis, p. pr. of servire to serve. See Serve,
and cf. Servant.] [Written also serjeant. Both spellings are authorized. In England serjeant is usually
preferred, except for military officers. In the United States sergeant is common for civil officers also.]
1. Formerly, in England, an officer nearly answering to the more modern bailiff of the hundred; also, an
officer whose duty was to attend on the king, and on the lord high steward in court, to arrest traitors
and other offenders. He is now called sergeant-at-arms, and two of these officers, by allowance of the
sovereign, attend on the houses of Parliament (one for each house) to execute their commands, and
another attends the Court Chancery.
The sergeant of the town of Rome them sought. Chaucer.
The magistrates sent the serjeant, saying, Let those men go. Acts xvi. 35.
This fell sergeant, Death,
Is strict in his arrest. Shak. 2. (Mil.) In a company, battery, or troop, a noncommissioned officer next in rank above a corporal,
whose duty is to instruct recruits in discipline, to form the ranks, etc.
In the United States service, besides the sergeants belonging to the companies there are, in each regiment,
a sergeant major, who is the chief noncommissioned officer, and has important duties as the assistant
to the adjutant; a quartermaster sergeant, who assists the quartermaster; a color sergeant, who carries
the colors; and a commissary sergeant, who assists in the care and distribution of the stores. Ordnance
sergeants have charge of the ammunition at military posts.
3. (Law) A lawyer of the highest rank, answering to the doctor of the civil law; — called also serjeant
at law. [Eng.] Blackstone.
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