Library / English Dictionary

CONSTABLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A lawman with less authority and jurisdiction than a sheriff

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("constable" is a kind of...):

law officer; lawman; peace officer (an officer of the law)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A police officer of the lowest rank

Synonyms:

constable; police constable

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("constable" is a kind of...):

officer; police officer; policeman (a member of a police force)

Domain region:

Britain; Great Britain; U.K.; UK; United Kingdom; United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (a monarchy in northwestern Europe occupying most of the British Isles; divided into England and Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland; 'Great Britain' is often used loosely to refer to the United Kingdom)

Sense 3

Meaning:

English landscape painter (1776-1837)

Synonyms:

Constable; John Constable

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Instance hypernyms:

painter (an artist who paints)

Credits

 Context examples: 

The big constable, very hot and penitent, sidled into the room.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Sir Lothian Hume was at his elbow, and I saw the faces of two country constables peeping over his shoulders.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

At the castle which is held by the brave knight, Sir Nigel Loring, constable to the Earl of Salisbury.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A sergeant and a constable stood in the doorway.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Here is the account: Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and a splash in the water.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But my aunt, suddenly descrying among them the young malefactor who was the donkey's guardian, and who was one of the most inveterate offenders against her, though hardly in his teens, rushed out to the scene of action, pounced upon him, captured him, dragged him, with his jacket over his head, and his heels grinding the ground, into the garden, and, calling upon Janet to fetch the constables and justices, that he might be taken, tried, and executed on the spot, held him at bay there.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

She saw no one but the constable.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“It’s a lesson to you that you can’t deceive me, Constable MacPherson,” said Lestrade, with dignity.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

We shall now journey south through the woods until we come out upon the Christchurch road, and so onwards, hoping to-night to reach the castle of Sir William Montacute, Earl of Salisbury, of which Sir Nigel Loring is constable.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

This is not talk for a police-constable.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)