Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A custom house officer in a port town whose duty is to search ships.
- noun A former officer of the London corporation who saw to the observance of the statutes and by-laws applicable to the river Thames.
- noun See
water-bailiff , under bailiff.
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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In all innocence, I accepted - and I haven't seen that five bob yet, because the randy baggage had to shell out all her loose change to buy the silence of the grinning water-bailiff who caught us unawares in the reeds, where she was teaching me natural history after her swim.
Flashman and the Dragon Fraser, George MacDonald, 1925- 1985
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In all innocence, I accepted — and I haven't seen that five bob yet, because the randy baggage had to shell out all her loose change to buy the silence of the grinning water-bailiff who caught us unawares in the reeds, where she was teaching me natural history after her swim.
Flashman and the Dragon Fraser, George MacDonald, 1925- 1985
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In all innocence, I accepted - and I haven't seen that five bob yet, because the randy baggage had to shell out all her loose change to buy the silence of the grinning water-bailiff who caught us unawares in the reeds, where she was teaching me natural history after her swim.
Flashman And The Dragon Fraser, George MacDonald, 1925- 1985
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They had confined me to my room -- Locke was a justice of the peace-and kept me there with the muff Duberly sitting outside the door like a blasted water-bailiff.
Flash For Freedom Fraser, George MacDonald, 1925- 1971
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They had confined me to my room -- Locke was a justice of the peace-and kept me there with the muff Duberly sitting outside the door like a blasted water-bailiff.
Flash For Freedom Fraser, George MacDonald, 1925- 1971
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And how it happened there is none to say, save those who dimly saw it, but there came a vision of a water-bailiff, scant of breath, pounding heavily across the fields, whilst a maiden, fleet of foot, sped away through the gloom, sore handicapped by the antics of a half-dead and wholly slippery fish that nothing would induce to stay inside her jacket.
Stories of the Border Marches Jeanie Lang
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This act provides for a "water-bailiff," whose duty it is to inspect the rivers, streams, water-courses, &c., and enforce the due maintenance of the banks, and the uninterrupted discharge of the waters at all times.
Farm drainage The Principles, Processes, and Effects of Draining Land with Stones, Wood, Plows, and Open Ditches, and Especially with Tiles Henry Flagg French
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St. Anthony nipping hot-foot over the hill, with the bosom of his monk's gown protruding in a way at which no honest water-bailiff could possibly have winked.
Stories of the Border Marches Jeanie Lang
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He went up to the water-bailiff, who evidently acted as his gillie on his shooting expeditions, for he said:
Death of a Harbormaster Simenon, Georges 1942
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Quite a number of people were hovering in the background, not daring to come nearer: customs officers, the water-bailiff, the head lock-keeper, the skipper of the coastguard cutter.
Death of a Harbormaster Simenon, Georges 1942
chained_bear commented on the word water-bailiff
"'...he took to being an under-keeper beyond Wimborne, and then after a spell as a water-bailiff he came to us as keeper, oh, well before I was born.'"
--P. O'Brian, The Yellow Admiral, 29
March 19, 2008