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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
constable
noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
chief constable
police constable
special constable
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
assistant
▪ For Don Dovaston, assistant chief constable of Derbyshire police, a series of schoolgirl murders made that mark run deeper.
▪ He was one of three applicants for the post of assistant chief constable.
▪ His appointment comes with next month's retirement of assistant chief constable Fred Smith.
▪ Fuss Mr Wilmot's six assistant chief constables are likely to join the boycott in November.
chief
▪ Merseyside's chief constable yesterday defended the handling of the arrest of a 12-year-old in the hunt for James's killers.
▪ Yet, according to the chief constable, in the same period calls for service have increased by 85 percent.
▪ The minister may also call for the retirement of a chief constable.
▪ It is virtually impossible for a Police Authority to obtain a report from a chief constable contrary to his wishes.
▪ The implementation of section 39 is an operational matter for the chief constable.
▪ The chief constable is responsible for other appointments and promotions.
▪ The county's chief constable, who heads a national committee on crime, says he hasn't the resources to cope.
▪ His appointment comes with next month's retirement of assistant chief constable Fred Smith.
special
▪ Too old to fight, he had served as a special constable during the war.
▪ Several people volunteered for being special constables but Tom remained silent.
▪ The home secretary, Kenneth Baker, launched a £4.5m campaign to recruit thousands more special constables.
▪ Seven other County Durham officers and a special constable have also been commended by the chief constable.
▪ Mr. Lloyd Our objective is that the number of special constables should equal about 20 percent. of the regular police force.
▪ The campaigns that we have been conducting are moving in that direction because special constables have a particularly valuable part to play.
▪ Every one else was virtually a special constable. ... The women were better.
▪ He became a special constable, a member of the local emergency committee.
uniformed
▪ They loomed up, two uniformed constables.
▪ There was a uniformed constable by the bed all the time, but David Evans was hanging about as an unofficial extra.
▪ P.C. Clifford and the other uniformed constable lent a hand in getting the stretcher with its heavy burden up the steps.
young
▪ A pleasant spoken young constable arrived at Riverview with a warrant and asked if he might look over the boat.
▪ The young constable and the landlord each grabbed a combatant and frogmarched them into the village street.
▪ Who knows why he attacked the young constable?
▪ Meryl followed the young detective constable to the library door with a sick feeling in her stomach.
▪ The young constable had come round the side of the inn, ready to support Hewett.
▪ A young constable coughed with embarrassment.
▪ On more than one occasion I caught senior management using our symbolic disorder to dress down young constables.
■ NOUN
detective
▪ The victim, a detective constable, tried to arrest the accused.
▪ The detective constable who was supposed to be guarding him was out of the ward at the time chatting up some nurses.
▪ She harried the detective constable who was checking Christine Mills' alibis.
▪ Meryl followed the young detective constable to the library door with a sick feeling in her stomach.
▪ The door of the interview room swung open and a detective constable swaggered in.
▪ Uniformed men and Wycliffe's detective constables were questioning the very few people who actually lived in the street.
▪ A detective constable was working away in a corner.
▪ The three of them, with four detective constables, would set the ball rolling.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Before shaving, he rang his office and spoke to the woman police constable who acted as his secretary.
▪ But all Mrs Ullman found was the intimidating bulk of three police constables.
▪ I've already given their names to the constable in the library.
▪ I recognised the uniform of a police constable.
▪ Seven other County Durham officers and a special constable have also been commended by the chief constable.
▪ The constables were known to the certificate-holder personally.
▪ They stopped at the modern bungalow that was the home and office of the local police constable.
▪ Yet, according to the chief constable, in the same period calls for service have increased by 85 percent.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Constable

Constable \Con"sta*ble\ (k[o^]n"st[.a]*b'l or k[u^]n"st[.a]*b'l), n. [OE. conestable, constable, a constable (in sense 1), OF. conestable, F. conn['e]table, LL. conestabulus, constabularius, comes stabuli, orig., count of the stable, master of the horse, equerry; comes count (L. companion) + L. stabulum stable. See Count a nobleman, and Stable.]

  1. A high officer in the monarchical establishments of the Middle Ages.

    Note: The constable of France was the first officer of the crown, and had the chief command of the army. It was also his duty to regulate all matters of chivalry. The office was suppressed in 1627. The constable, or lord high constable, of England, was one of the highest officers of the crown, commander in chief of the forces, and keeper of the peace of the nation. He also had judicial cognizance of many important matters. The office was as early as the Conquest, but has been disused (except on great and solemn occasions), since the attainder of Stafford, duke of Buckingham, in the reign of Henry VIII.

  2. (Law) An officer of the peace having power as a conservator of the public peace, and bound to execute the warrants of judicial officers.
    --Bouvier.

    Note: In England, at the present time, the constable is a conservator of the peace within his district, and is also charged by various statutes with other duties, such as serving summons, precepts, warrants, etc. In the United States, constables are town or city officers of the peace, with powers similar to those of the constables of England. In addition to their duties as conservators of the peace, they are invested with others by statute, such as to execute civil as well as criminal process in certain cases, to attend courts, keep juries, etc. In some cities, there are officers called high constables, who act as chiefs of the constabulary or police force. In other cities the title of constable, as well as the office, is merged in that of the police officer.

    High constable, a constable having certain duties and powers within a hundred. [Eng.]

    Petty constable, a conservator of the peace within a parish or tithing; a tithingman. [Eng.]

    Special constable, a person appointed to act as constable of special occasions.

    To overrun the constable, or outrun the constable, to spend more than one's income; to get into debt. [Colloq.]
    --Smollett.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
constable

c.1200, "chief household officer, justice of the peace," from Old French conestable (12c., Modern French connétable), "steward, governor," principal officer of the Frankish king's household, from Late Latin comes stabuli, literally "count of the stable" (established by Theodosian Code, c.438 C.E.), hence, "chief groom." See count (n.). Second element is from Latin stabulum "stable, standing place" (see stable (n.)). Probably a translation of a Germanic word. Meaning "an officer of the peace" is from c.1600, transferred to "police officer" 1836. French reborrowed constable 19c. as "English police."

Wiktionary
constable

n. (context British NZ English) A police officer ranking below sergeant in most British/New Zealand police forces. (See also chief constable).

WordNet
constable
  1. n. a lawman with less authority and jurisdiction than a sheriff

  2. English landscape painter (1776-1837) [syn: John Constable]

  3. a police officer of the lowest rank [syn: police constable]

Wikipedia
Constable

A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in criminal law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. A constable is commonly the rank of an officer within the police. Other persons may be granted powers of a constable without holding the title of constable.

Constable (disambiguation)

A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement.

Constable may also refer to:

  • Constable (surname)
  • John Constable, English artist
  • Constable, New York, United States
Constable (surname)

The surname Constable may refer to:

  • Andrew Constable, Lord Constable (1865–1928), Scottish politician and judge
  • Albert Constable (1805-1855), American politician
  • Archibald Constable (1774-1827), Scottish publisher and bookseller
  • Bernie Constable (1921–1997), English cricketer
  • Cuthbert Constable (died 1746), English physician and antiquary
  • Dean Constable (born 1980), Canadian politician
  • Dennis Constable (born 1925), English cricketer
  • Elinor G. Constable (born 1934), American diplomat
  • Francis Constable (1592–1647), English bookseller and publisher
  • Henry Constable (1562–1613), English poet
  • Ian Constable, Australian ophthalmologist
  • James Constable (born 1984), English footballer
  • Jim Constable (1933-2002), American baseball player
  • Jimmy Constable (born 1971), British pop singer
  • John Constable (1776–1837), English painter
  • Kate Constable (born 1966), Australian author
  • Liz Constable (born 1943), Australian politician
  • Marmaduke Constable (c. 1455–1518), English soldier
  • Paule Constable, British lighting designer
  • Robert Constable (c. 1478–1537), English nobleman and soldier
  • Robert Lee Constable, American computer scientist
  • Sir William Constable, 1st Baronet (bap. 1590–1655), English soldier and politician
  • William George Constable (1887–1976), English-American art historian

Category:English-language surnames

Usage examples of "constable".

Rattisbon threatened him shrilly with the Municipal Corporation Aet of 1822 and looked about him for a constable.

Carrick, a natural son of their late king, the earls of Athole and Monteith, lord Hay of Errol, constable, and the lords Keith and Lindsey.

Chief Constable Riddle, who had hated Banks from the start, was even more pissed off at him than ever now.

Detective Constable David Sparkington, owner of the beadier pair of eyes.

As I sat down in a student desk the police had commandeered more classrooms I nodded amiably at her attendant constable, a Geordie whose hair was the colour of the flashing part of a Belisha beacon.

Constable Jordan in Da Nang a week ago, and he feels Binh Duc is probably responsible for the placement of the mine that killed Mrs.

Edward, Duke and Earl of Buckingham, Earl and Baron of Stafford, Prince of Brecknock, Count of Perche in Normandy, Knight of the Garter, hereditary Lord High Steward, and, in virtue of the blood of Bohun, Lord High Constable of England.

Chief Constable, wanting to know what other crime prevention measures could have been put in place for the cost of busting one high-profile bloke smoking a bit of dope in the privacy of his own home.

Right behind them were a couple of plainweave carpets that carried plainclothes constables.

Lord Constable of the Realm, Tinnis Catclaw, who had proved his courage during the Battle of Holt Mallburn.

At his insistence on this morning after the crime, the petty constable had taken the local cunning woman, old Mother Coddington, into custody.

Haggard special constables with white badges stood at the corners of every street.

Constable bent down, pulled off one of the lawyer s shoes and socks and wiped the blood off the table as best he could and covered the rest with documents and pads of paper.

The faker, closely held by the constable who had arrested him, and by a brother officer who had hurried up, gave the strange girl one look.

The constable spared Fawkes the details, and Fawkes did not demand them.