sbirron.
An Italian police officer.
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society > law > law enforcement > police force or the police > [noun] > policeman > in specific country
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1670 S. Wilson Lassels's Voy. Italy (new ed.) ii. 252 This Gouernour..hath besides his owne gards, a Barigello or Captain of the Sbirri or Sergeants.
1687 London Gaz. No. 2224/1 The Sbirres or Officers of Justice.
1688 Lett. conc. Present St. Italy 119 The Sbiri (a sort of men like our Bailiffs) carried him to another [Judge].
1693 London Gaz. No. 2890/1 Sbirris or Officers of Justice.
1821 Ld. Byron Marino Faliero (2nd issue) ii. ii. 60 Had I been silent, not a Sbirro but Had kept me in his eye, as meditating..revenge.
1888 L. Oliphant Episodes (ed. 5) 183 I rolled through Italy in a diligence, in company with sundry Papal sbirri as fellow-passengers.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1910; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
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