Sergeant \Ser"geant\, n. [F. sergent, fr. L. serviens, -entis,
   p. pr. of servire to serve. See Serve, and cf. Servant.]
   [Written also serjeant. Both spellings are authorized. In
   England serjeant is usually preferred, except for military
   officers. In the United States sergeant is common for civil
   officers also.]
   1. 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.
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            The sergeant of the town of Rome them sought.
                                                  --Chaucer.
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            The magistrates sent the serjeant, saying, Let those
            men go.                               --Acts xvi.
                                                  35.
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            This fell sergeant, Death,
            Is strict in his arrest.              --Shak.
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   2. (Mil.) In a company, battery, or troop, a noncommissioned
      officer next in rank above a corporal, whose duty is to
      instruct recruits in discipline, to form the ranks, etc.
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   Note: In the United States service, besides the sergeants
         belonging to the companies there are, in each regiment,
         a sergeant major, who is the chief noncommissioned
         officer, and has important duties as the assistant to
         the adjutant; a quartermaster sergeant, who assists the
         quartermaster; a color sergeant, who carries the
         colors; and a commissary sergeant, who assists in the
         care and distribution of the stores. Ordnance sergeants
         have charge of the ammunition at military posts.
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   3. (Law) A lawyer of the highest rank, answering to the
      doctor of the civil law; -- called also serjeant at law.
      [Eng.] --Blackstone.
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   4. A title sometimes given to the servants of the sovereign;
      as, sergeant surgeon, that is, a servant, or attendant,
      surgeon. [Eng.]
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   5. (Zool.) The cobia.
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   Drill sergeant. (Mil.) See under Drill.

   Sergeant-at-arms, an officer of a legislative body, or of a
      deliberative or judicial assembly, who executes commands
      in preserving order and arresting offenders. See
      Sergeant, 1.

   Sergeant major.
      (a) (Mil.) See the Note under def. 2, above.
      (b) (Zool.) The cow pilot.
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Drill \Drill\, n.
   1. An instrument with an edged or pointed end used for making
      holes in hard substances; strictly, a tool that cuts with
      its end, by revolving, as in drilling metals, or by a
      succession of blows, as in drilling stone; also, a drill
      press.
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   2. (Mil.) The act or exercise of training soldiers in the
      military art, as in the manual of arms, in the execution
      of evolutions, and the like; hence, diligent and strict
      instruction and exercise in the rudiments and methods of
      any business; a kind or method of military exercises; as,
      infantry drill; battalion drill; artillery drill.
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   3. Any exercise, physical or mental, enforced with regularity
      and by constant repetition; as, a severe drill in Latin
      grammar.
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   4. (Zool.) A marine gastropod, of several species, which
      kills oysters and other bivalves by drilling holes through
      the shell. The most destructive kind is Urosalpinx
      cinerea.
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   Bow drill, Breast drill. See under Bow, Breast.

   Cotter drill, or Traverse drill, a machine tool for
      drilling slots.

   Diamond drill. See under Diamond.

   Drill jig. See under Jig.

   Drill pin, the pin in a lock which enters the hollow stem
      of the key.

   Drill sergeant (Mil.), a noncommissioned officer whose
      office it is to instruct soldiers as to their duties, and
      to train them to military exercises and evolutions.

   Vertical drill, a drill press.
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