lawman

From Middle English laweman, laȝaman (as a man's name, Laȝamon, Layamon), from Old English lahmann, borrowed from Old Norse lǫgmaðr. In present use as a law-enforcement officer, law +‎ -man.^[1]

• (UK) enPR: lômăn, lômən, IPA^(key): /ˈlɔːmæn/, /ˈlɔːmən/
• (US) enPR: lômăn, lômən, IPA^(key): /ˈlɔmæn/, /ˈlɔmən/
• Rhymes: -ɔːmən

lawman (plural lawmen)

1. (law, historical) A lawspeaker: a declarer of the law.
2. (law, historical) One of 12 magistrates in certain Danish boroughs of England empowered with soc and sac over their own households.
3. (law, Orkney and Shetland) The presiding justice of the supreme court.
   • 1983, Paul Thompson, Tony Wailey, Trevor Lummis, History Workshop Series, Living the Fishing, Routledge & Kegan Paul:

     From the twelfth century Shetland had been administered directly by the Norwegian crown through the 'foud', rather than forming part of the patrimony of a great aristocratic estate. The foud appointed 'underfouds' and the Shetlands evolved their own elected officers, a 'lawman' and parish 'lawrightmen', who adjudicated and negotiated the collection of customary taxes and fines on behalf of the local population.

4. (rare) A man of the law: a lawyer.
5. (informal) An officer of the law: a law-enforcement officer.
   • 1979 June 25, Richard Schickel, “Show Business: Duke: Images from a Lifetime”, in Time:

     "Fill your hand, you sonuvabitch," the old lawman cries, clamping the reins of his horse between his teeth and filling his own hands with six-gun and repeater.

   • 2016, Dusty Richards, Deadly Is the Night, Pinnacle Books, →ISBN, retrieved 8 December 2021:

     The two lawmen punched his ticket with four well-aimed rifle shots.

• (speaker of the law): lawspeaker
• (medieval Dano-English magistrates): lageman, lagman
• (Orcadian & Shetlandic chief justice): lawman-general, lagman
• (law-enforcement officer): See Thesaurus:police officer

From the same root as law but with the suffix -man.

lawman

1. crazy person