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ˈsergeant-ˈmajor
[f. sergeant n. + major a.; in Fr. sergent-major.]
†1. In the 16–17th c., a military title variously applied to officers widely differing in rank and function.
a. A field officer, one in each regiment, next in rank to the lieutenant-colonel, and corresponding partly to the ‘major’, partly to the ‘adjutant’, of the modern army.
Ordinarily referred to as superior to the captains, but in many instances a ‘captain’ is said to be also ‘sergeant-major’.
1573Whithorne Briefe Tables H j b, Maister of the Campe, or Seargeant Maier, or Capitaine. 1591Sir J. Smythe Instr. Milit. (1595) 36 The Sergeant Maior must command all the Captaines or their Lieutenants. 1598Barret Theor. Warres ii. i. 15 Euery Regiment hath this Sergeant Maior. 1598B. Jonson Ev. Man in Hum. iii. v, He might haue beene Serieant-Maior, if not Lieutenant-Coronell to the regiment. 1604E. Grimstone Siege Ostend 20 An English Captaine who was also Sargent Maior. 1624W. G. Count Mansfield's Direct. Warre 13 The eldest Sergeant..is also to fetch the Word from the Sergeant Maior of the Regiment. 1633Swed. Intelligencer iv. 127 The Sergeant-Major over these 5 companies, was Captaine Thomas Grove, who now commanded them. 1642(title) A List of the Names of the severall Colonells.. with the Leivtenant Colonells, Serieant Maiors, and Captaines and Lievtenants appointed by the Committee, for the ordering of the Militia of this Honourable City of London. 1642Declar. Lords & Comm. for Rais. Forces 22 Dec. 7 Serjeant-Major of the sayd Regiment. 1683Turner Pallas Armata xi. 225 The Swedes of a long time allowed him [sc. the Major] no company, yet allow'd him the command over Captains, but it is now many years ago since they were permitted to have companies; hence perhaps it is that when they have no companies, they may be called Serjeant-Majors, as when they have companies, the Germans call them Captain-Majors, but the English use frequently the words of Serjeant Major and Serjeant-Major General, none of them are used either by German, Swede, or Dane. 1704Milit. Dict. (ed. 2).
†b. A general officer, corresponding to the modern major-general. Also sergeant-major major, sergeant-major general. Obs.
1591Sir J. Smythe Instr. Milit. (1595) 60 If a Lord Marshall or a Sergeant Maior Maior, haue..10000 or more or fewer piquers to reduce into one bodie of squadron, hee may [etc.]. c1595T. Maynarde Drake's Voy. (Hakl. Soc.) 14 We buried Captaine Arnolde Baskerville, our serjant-major generall. 1599J. Chamberlain Lett. (Camden) 38 Sir Ferdinando Gorge is named to be Sergeant Major [of the army in Ireland]. 1625G. M. Souldier's Accid. 62 The Serieant-Maior of the Horse, which in some discipline is called the Commissary-generall. 1633T. Stafford Pac. Hib. ii. xvii. 222 The Sergeant Major, being the second Commander to Don Iohn. 1642List Army Earl Essex 1 His Excellencie Robert Earle of Essex, Capt. Generall. Sir Iohn Merrick, Serjeant Major Generall, and President of the Councell of Warre. 1644Symonds Diary (Camden) 50 Lord Wentworth was Serjeant Major of the Horse. 1646Earl of Monmouth tr. Biondi's Civil Warres viii. 147 [Richard III] Went himselfe in Person in the head of his Army..executing Himselfe the duty of a Sergeant Major. 1647Clarendon Hist. Reb. vii. §26 Philip Skippon..was now made sergeant-major-general of the army by the absolute power of the two houses.
2. A non-commissioned officer of the highest grade.
The regimental sergeant-major (who is, strictly speaking, not a ‘non-commissioned officer’, but a ‘warrant officer’), is an assistant to the adjutant. There is also a sergeant-major belonging to each squadron of cavalry and each battery of artillery.
1802James Milit. Dict. s.v., In most regiments the serjeant-major, under the direction of the adjutant, is directed to drill every young officer who comes into the regiment. 1816Scott Old Mort. xxxiv, Claverhouse..called for his serjeant-major. 1837King's Regul. Army 170 The Troop Serjeant-Majors... The Regimental Serjeant-Major.
transf.1897Daily News 15 June 3/4 They were members of the Salvation Army, one of them, a woman, describing herself as the sergeant-major.
3. An American fish, the cow-pilot, Pomacentrus saxatilis.
1876Goode Fishes of Bermudas 38 Glyphidodon saxatilis,..Cow-pilot; Sergeant-major. 1885A. Brassey The Trades 407 Fine little black and white ‘serjeant-majors’ as they are called, because of their many stripes.
4. Mil. slang. Used attrib. to designate (a) coffee with cream or milk and sugar (U.S.); (b) strong sweet tea; tea with rum; also in the possessive and ellipt.
1923T. Boyd Through Wheat viii. 131 ‘Bring your canteen cups. Sergeant-major coffee.’.. ‘Coffee, hot! And milk and sugar in it!’ 1925Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 254 Sergeant Major's Tea, tea with sugar and milk, or a dash of rum, in it. 1929J. L. Hodson Grey Dawn—Red Night ii. v. 210 Two of them got up before the rest and made a fire and produced ‘sergeant-major's tea’ and bacon done to a turn. 1929J. B. Priestley Good Compan. i. iv. 115 I'd like a drop o' tea with some rum in it, good old sergeant-major's. 1939Joyce Finnegans Wake 331 Pointing up to skyless heaven like the spoon out of sergeantmajor's tay. 1948Partridge Dict. Forces' Slang 1939–1945 164 Sergeant-major's, a Samson-strong, love-sweet brew of tea, popularly supposed to be the perquisite of holders of that rank. 1981J. Wainwright Urge for Justice i. v. 30 This tea..it damn near dissolved the spoon. A real ‘sergeant major’ brew. The way tea should be made.
Hence as v. trans., to order or shout in a brusque and stentorian manner; sergeant-majorish, -majorly adjs., characteristic of or resembling a sergeant-major; sergeant-majorship.
1892Athenæum 1 Oct. 448/2 [c 1630] The king gave him [Fabert] another company vacant by death, again permitting his retention of the sergeant-majorship. 1925G. W. Deeping Sorrell & Son viii. 77 Moreover, he might pocket a sergeant-majorly share of the tips. 1926A. Bennett Lord Raingo xxxvi. 168 ‘Bow,’ said the sergeant-majorish official behind him, in a no-nonsense voice. 1931E. A. Robertson Four Frightened People ii. 77 Then we heard the voice of Mrs. Mardick sergeant-majoring the truant few. a1935T. E. Lawrence Mint (1955) ii. iii. 108 Cursing fellows forbidden to look resentful..is a sergeant-majorish trick which good corporals would not allow themselves. 1962M. Duffy That's how It Was iv. 43 ‘She'll soon learn,’ the voice sergeant-majored high above me. |