civil servicen.
/ˌsɪvl ˈsəːvɪs/, U.S. /ˌsɪvᵻl ˈsərvəs/ Originally: the branch of the East India Company run by staff not belonging to the army or navy (now historical). Now: the permanent professional branches of a state's administration and similar public sector departments. Also: the officials employed in any of these departments considered collectively.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > a or the government > civil service > [noun]
servicec1325
public service1576
Whitehall1716
civil service1816
striped trousers1958
1765 J. Topham Let. 22 Sept. in T. G. P. Spear Nabobs (1932) ii. 33 The Company's Civil Service..is the only certain Track to a Fortune or Preferment.
1777 C. Caraccioli Life Ld. Clive III. 164 A considerable sum..contributed privately by gentlemen in the civil service, in aid of the military cause.
1816 Monthly Rev. Aug. App. 523 [He] remained there above five years in a capacity..of Commis or Clerk to an officer in the civil service of the French government.
1844 J. H. Stocqueler Hand-bk. India 75 To assist the supreme government of India..a highly-educated civil service, consisting of about four hundred members, is placed at its disposal.
1848 H. H. Wilson Hist. Brit. India 1805–35 III. ix. 520 Mr. Hutchinson was in the Civil Service of the Company, Commercial Resident at Anjengo.
1880 N. Amer. Rev. Mar. 250 The knowledge that the humblest born may aspire to occupation in the civil service has greatly raised the standard..of popular education.
1926 Public Opinion 13 Aug. 147/3 We are to have a politicalised Civil Service in this country.
1968 G. M. Williams From Scenes like These i. 15 For God's sake, McCann, ye lazy hooring shite, ye've no' got they horse yokit yet, what the hell d'ye think this is, the civil service?
2005 Guardian 21 July (Life section) 15/5 This idea may strike a chord with a civil service obsessed with finding more creative ways of measuring productivity.
Compounds
General attributive, as civil service commission, civil service examination, civil service job, civil service reform, civil service store, etc.
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1849 Jrnl. Statist. Soc. 12 129 The primary object of the Civil Service Fund is to secure ultimately a certain provision for the widows, orphans, and dependent relatives of..officers in all branches of the civil service.
1855 Times 25 Dec. 10/2 The Government..is endeavouring to raise the standard of the service by the introduction of a civil service commission.
1874 H. Fawcett Man. Polit. Econ. (ed. 4) ii. x. 257 At the Civil Service Store in the Haymarket.
1878 N. Amer. Rev. Sept. 275 The fluctuations of civil-service reform.
1928 Havre (Montana) Daily News-Promoter 19 Jan. 2/8 Temporary Park Ranger Whitcraft..was due to make a trip to Kalispell to take the civil service examination for a permanent rangership.
1943 P. Larkin Let. 10 Aug. in Sel. Lett. (1992) 61 Yesterday, too, I had to go to London for a Civil Service interview, which was a bit flustering.
2000 Independent on Sunday 16 Apr. i. 21/2 Military figures are being appointed to civil service jobs.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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