| 释义 |
tipstaff|ˈtɪpstɑːf, -æ-|
Pl. -staffs |-stɑːfs, -æ-|, or -staves |-steɪvz|.
[Contraction of tipped or tipt staff: see tipped ppl. a.1 3.]
†1. A staff with a tip or cap of metal, carried as a badge by certain officials: see 2. Obs.
1541–2Act 33 Hen. VIII, c. 12 §26 Anye of the Kinges..officers, that..shall strike any person..withe anye staffe commonye called a Tipp staffe. 1579–80North Plutarch (1676) 219 Sergeants and other Officers holding Tipstaves in their hands. 1695Congreve Love for L. i. iv, Two suspicious Fellows like lawful Pads, that would knock a Man down with Pocket Tipstaves.
†b. pl. Used for ‘stilts’. Obs. nonce-use.
1582Stanyhurst Craking Cutter in æneis, etc. (Arb.) 143 Linckt was in wedlock a loftye Thrasonical huf snuffe: In gate al on typstau's stalcking, in phisnomye daring.
2. An official carrying a tipped staff; spec.
a. A sheriff's officer, bailiff, constable;
b. An officer appointed to wait upon a court in session; a court crier or usher. arch.
1570Foxe A. & M. (ed. 2) 1365/1 The knight Marshall with all hys tippe staues. 1600Holland Livy xlv. xxix. 1220 When they saw the tipstaves and huishers to keepe the doores and places of entrie. 1687Magd. Coll. & Jas. II (O.H.S.) 148 Then their Lordships..commissioned Atterbury the Tipstaff to fetch a Smith to force them open. 1710J. Harris Lex. Techn. II, Tip-staves, are the Warden of the Fleets Officers attending the Queen's Courts with a Painted Staff, for taking into Custody such Persons [etc.]. 1831Carlyle Sart. Res. i. ix, Those ministering Sheriffs and Lord-Lieutenants and Hangmen and Tipstaves. 1882W. Ballantine Exper. xli. 387 They were tipstaves, prepared to take [him]..into custody. 1888J. Gow Comp. School Classics 290 Order was maintained by tip-staffs, ῥαβδοῦχοι.
Hence ˈtipˌstavery (nonce-wd.), a body of tipstaffs.
1911B. Capes Loaves & Fishes 224 Cracking their inevitable chestnuts for the benefit of an obsequious tipstavery. |