The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
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.
[1913 Webster]
The sergeant of the town of Rome them sought.
--Chaucer.
[1913 Webster]
The magistrates sent the serjeant, saying, Let those
men go. --Acts xvi.
35.
[1913 Webster]
This fell sergeant, Death,
Is strict in his arrest. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
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.
[1913 Webster]
Note: 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.
[1913 Webster]
3. (Law) A lawyer of the highest rank, answering to the
doctor of the civil law; -- called also serjeant at law.
[Eng.] --Blackstone.
[1913 Webster]
4. A title sometimes given to the servants of the sovereign;
as, sergeant surgeon, that is, a servant, or attendant,
surgeon. [Eng.]
[1913 Webster]
5. (Zool.) The cobia.
[1913 Webster]
Drill sergeant. (Mil.) See under Drill.
Sergeant-at-arms, an officer of a legislative body, or of a
deliberative or judicial assembly, who executes commands
in preserving order and arresting offenders. See
Sergeant, 1.
Sergeant major.
(a) (Mil.) See the Note under def. 2, above.
(b) (Zool.) The cow pilot.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Drill \Drill\, n.
1. An instrument with an edged or pointed end used for making
holes in hard substances; strictly, a tool that cuts with
its end, by revolving, as in drilling metals, or by a
succession of blows, as in drilling stone; also, a drill
press.
[1913 Webster]
2. (Mil.) The act or exercise of training soldiers in the
military art, as in the manual of arms, in the execution
of evolutions, and the like; hence, diligent and strict
instruction and exercise in the rudiments and methods of
any business; a kind or method of military exercises; as,
infantry drill; battalion drill; artillery drill.
[1913 Webster]
3. Any exercise, physical or mental, enforced with regularity
and by constant repetition; as, a severe drill in Latin
grammar.
[1913 Webster]
4. (Zool.) A marine gastropod, of several species, which
kills oysters and other bivalves by drilling holes through
the shell. The most destructive kind is Urosalpinx
cinerea.
[1913 Webster]
Bow drill, Breast drill. See under Bow, Breast.
Cotter drill, or Traverse drill, a machine tool for
drilling slots.
Diamond drill. See under Diamond.
Drill jig. See under Jig.
Drill pin, the pin in a lock which enters the hollow stem
of the key.
Drill sergeant (Mil.), a noncommissioned officer whose
office it is to instruct soldiers as to their duties, and
to train them to military exercises and evolutions.
Vertical drill, a drill press.
[1913 Webster]