constable

See also: Constable

English

Etymology

From Middle English constable, cunstable, constabil, connestable, cunestable, from Old French conestable, from Latin comes stabulī (“officer of the stables”). For the sense-development; compare marshal. Doublet of connétable.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkʌnstəbəl/, /ˈkɒnstəbəl/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑnstəbəl/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈkanstəbəl/

Noun

constable (plural constables)

1. One holding the lowest rank in most Commonwealth police forces. (See also chief constable.)
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 19, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

     As soon as Julia returned with a constable, Timothy, who was on the point of exhaustion, prepared to give over to him gratefully. The newcomer turned out to be a powerful youngster, fully trained and eager to help, and he stripped off his tunic at once.

2. (UK, law) A police officer or an officer with equivalent powers.
3. (historical) An officer of a noble court in the Middle Ages, usually a senior army commander. (See also marshal).
4. The warden of a castle.
5. (US) An elected or appointed public officer, usually at municipal level, responsible for maintaining order or serving writs and court orders.
6. (Channel Islands) An elected head of a parish (also known as a connétable)
7. A large butterfly, Dichorragia nesimachus, family Nymphalidae, of Asia.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:police officer

Derived terms

• Burton Constable
• Constable Burton
• constablery
• constableship
• constabless
• constablewick
• constabulary
• cst. / CST (abbreviation)
• hog constable
• Melton Constable
• outrun the constable
• overrun the constable
• police constable
• special constable
• subconstable
• underconstable

 

Translations

police officer rank

Bulgarian: полицай (bg) m (policaj) Chinese: Cantonese: 警員／警员 (ging2 jyun4) Mandarin: 警官 (zh) (jǐngguān), 警員／警员 (zh) (jǐngyuán) Czech: konstábl (cs) m Finnish: konstaapeli (fi); nuorempi konstaapeli, vanhempi konstaapeli French: constable (fr) Greek: αστυφύλακας (el) (astyfýlakas), χωροφύλακας (el) (chorofýlakas) Irish: constábla m Italian: appuntato (carabinieri) m, agente (polizia) m Japanese: 捕方 (torikata) Malay: konstabel Maori: kātipa Persian: آژان (fa) (âžân) Polish: konstabl m Portuguese: agente (pt) m Russian: консте́бль (ru) m (konstéblʹ) Scottish Gaelic: maor-sìthe m Swahili: konstebo Swedish: konstapel (sv) c Vietnamese: quản đốc (vi) Welsh: cwnstabl m

a police officer or an officer with equivalent powers

Esperanto: konstablo Latin: vigil (la) m Polish: konstabl m

officer of a noble court

Armenian: Middle Armenian: գունդստապլ (gundstapl) Czech: konstábl (cs) m Finnish: konnetaabeli (fi) French: connétable (fr) m or f Italian: conestabile (it) m Polish: konstabl m Portuguese: condestável m Russian: консте́бль (ru) m (konstéblʹ), коннетабль (ru) m (konnetablʹ)

elected head of a parish

French: connétable (fr) m or f Latin: praepositus villae Norman: (Guernsey) counnétablle m, (Jersey) connêtabl'ye m

Verb

constable (third-person singular simple present constables, present participle constabling, simple past and past participle constabled)

1. (intransitive, dated) To act as a constable or policeman.

Anagrams

• balconets

French

Noun

constable m or f by sense (plural constables)

1. constable (police title)

Further reading

• “constable”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Middle English

Alternative forms

• conestable, connestabil, connestable, constabil, cunstable
• cunestable (Early Middle English)

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French conestable; compare counte (“count”), stable (“stable”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kun(ə)ˈstaːblə/, /kun(ə)ˈstaːbəl/
• (reduced) IPA^(key): /ˈkun(ə)stablə/, /ˈkun(ə)stabəl/

Noun

constable (plural constables)

1. constable (high commander or officer of a medieval realm)
2. constable (warden of a castle)

Descendants

• English: constable
• Scots: constable

References

• “cǒnstāble, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.