| ̷ ̷ ̷ ̷ ̷ ̷| ̷ ̷ noun
also sergeant-at-law
( plural serjeants-at-law also sergeants-at-law )
: a barrister of the highest rank answering to the doctor of the civil law, outranking king's counsel socially but in professional rank inferior to them, and until 1846 having the exclusive right to be heard in the Court of Common Pleas