The Collaborative International Dictionary
Catchpoll \Catch"poll`\, n. [OF. chacepol, chacipol.] A bailiff's assistant.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Old English *kæcepol "tax-gatherer," from Old North French cachepol (Old French chacepol), from Medieval Latin cacepollus "a tax gatherer," literally "chase-chicken." For first element see chase (v.), for second see pullet. In lieu of taxes they would confiscate poultry. Later in English more specifically as "a sheriff's officer whose duty was to make arrests for debt." Compare Old French chacipolerie "tax paid to a nobleman by his subjects allowing them and their families to shelter in his castle in wartime."
Wiktionary
n. (alternative form of catchpole English)
Usage examples of "catchpoll".
The husbands, in their defence, almost invariably pleaded justification, and some of them told such tales of studied atrocity at the domestic hearth, both psychic and physical, that the learned magistrate discharged them with tears in his eyes and the very catchpolls in the courtroom had to blow their noses.
To this same repugnance for his catchpoll work do I owe it that at the moment of setting out he offered to let me ride without the annoyance of an escort if I would pass him my parole not to attempt an escape.
It is not the only distinction, for while he basks in the sunshine of the great world of Paris - they are wealthy, the Mironsacs of Castelvert --I, a poor devil of a Gascony cadet, am playing the catchpoll in Languedoc!
And look to your skin when he does, monsieur the catchpoll, for, on my honour, you shall have a foretaste of hell for your trouble in this matter.
I don't fight catchpolls, and if you give me trouble my men are yonder.
As to the catchpolls, let them free to hunt about and lie in the ravines and bushes of the earth, to capture those that are debtors to the infernal crown.