Formerly, in England, an officer nearly answering to the
   more modern bailiff of the hundred; also, an officer whose duty was to
   attend on the king, and on the lord high steward in court, to arrest
   traitors and other offenders. He is now called sergeant-at-arms, and
   two of these officers, by allowance of the sovereign, attend on the
   houses of Parliament (one for each house) to execute their commands,
   and another attends the Court Chancery.