Marschal

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. A senior commissioned officer of the highest military rank ; an official who keeps order or enforces the law ; to arrange troops or people into an orderly formation ; to lead or escort someone somewhere
2. The top rank of an army officer ; a law officer or court official charged with keeping order ; to line up or organize people or things systematically ; to guide someone along a route or into a place
3. A high military commander ; a peace officer or ceremonial court official responsible for order ; to sort and arrange things into a methodical sequence ; to usher or conduct a person to a destination

Etymology: Marschal is an early form of "marshal," and the word first meant a servant who cared for horses. It comes from Old French "mareschal," which in turn came from a Frankish compound whose parts are usually reconstructed as words for "horse" and "servant." Over time, the stable servant rose in rank: the officer in charge of a royal household's horses became a figure of real authority, and eventually the title came to mean a senior commander of an army. The spelling "marschal" was an Anglo-Norman and Middle English variant, and "marshal" later became the standard form. The military sense came to dominate, and in some countries the title survives as a top rank, as with a field marshal in the British army. Its use as a verb, meaning to arrange or gather people or things in order, grew out of the older sense of organizing a household or procession.

Synonyms: steward, bailiff, constable, sheriff