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''constable'' ▫ᴱᴺ Entries

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''constable'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260605232103-00-⌔

constable - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Noun

constable (plural constables)

  • One holding the lowest rank in most Commonwealth police forces. (See also chief constable.)
    • ✤ 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.1
  • (UK, law) A police officer or an officer with equivalent powers.
  • (historical) An officer of a noble court in the Middle Ages, usually a senior army commander. (See also marshal).
  • The warden of a castle.
  • (US) An elected or appointed public officer, usually at municipal level, responsible for maintaining order or serving writs and court orders.
  • (Channel Islands) An elected head of a parish (also known as a connétable)
  • A large butterfly, Dichorragia nesimachus, family Nymphalidae, of Asia.

Verb

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

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

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: /ˈkʌn.stə.bəl/, /ˈkɒn.stə.bəl/
    • Audio (Southern England): 🔊
  • (General American) IPA: /ˈkɑn.stə.bəl/
  • (Australian) IPA: /ˈkan.stə.bəl/

Printed 2026-06-28.

(echo:: @ ⌗)

Footnotes

  1. 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 19, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC: ↩

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