officer

n.

1. One who holds an office of authority or trust in an organization, such as a corporation or government.
2. One who holds a commission in the armed forces.
3. A person licensed in the merchant marine as master, mate, chief engineer, or assistant engineer.
4. A police officer.

tr.v., -cered, -cer·ing, -cers.

1. To furnish with officers.
2. To command or manage as an officer.

[Middle English, from Old French officier, from Medieval Latin officārius, from Latin officium, service, duty. See office.]

Senior administrative official of a bank, appointed by the Board of Directors, to implement and carry out its operating rules, including the bank's loan policy. The chairman of the board is the highest ranking officer in a bank or bank holding company, reporting directly to the board of directors, whereas the chief executive officer (CEO) is ordinarily the executive with the most responsibility for day-to-day operations. In many smaller banks, it is not unusual for the CEO to also hold the title of president or even chairman. Under the bank president are other administrative officers: the chief operating officer (COO); the bank Cashier who is senior administrative officer (his or her name appears on all official, or cashier's, checks); executive vice presidents; and lesser officers, including senior vice presidents, vice presidents, assistant vice presidents, branch office managers, and calling officers (sometimes called account executives) who market banking services to corporate customers.

noun

1. A person having administrative or managerial authority in an organization: administrant, administrator, director, executive, manager, official. Informal exec. See over/under.
2. A member of a law-enforcement agency: bluecoat, finest, patrolman, patrolwoman, peace officer, police, policeman, police officer, policewoman. Informal cop, law. Slang bull¹, copper, flatfoot, fuzz, gendarme, heat, man (often uppercase). Chiefly British bobby, constable, peeler. See law.

A person holding authority in the armed forces. Although the term subsumes commissioned officers, warrant officers, and NCOs, it is only specifically applied to those holding commissions. The military hierarchy and its ranks became established with the advent of modern armies around the 17th century. In land forces there were three levels of officer rank: company officers (officiers subalternes) including ensign (cornet in the cavalry), second lieutenant, lieutenant, and captain; field officers (officiers supérieurs), majors, lieutenant colonels, and colonels; and general officers, brigadier general, major general, lieutenant general, and general. The rank of field marshal (or marshal) is the most senior, and in France was regarded as a dignity of state rather than a specifically military rank.

There were inevitably differences, which can only be touched on here (see rank). The Austrian army called the rank of general feldzugmeister and lieutenant general feldmarschall leutnant. In the French army of the old regime there were two grades of general officer, maréchal de camp (equivalent to brigadier general) and lieutenant général, roughly and confusingly equivalent to major general. After the Revolution these were replaced by général de brigade and général de division, with the full range of general officer ranks, including général de corps d'armée and général d'armée coming only after WW I. In many armies a brigade might be commanded by the senior colonel of the regiments comprising it or, as was often the case in the German army, by a major general. The British army abolished the rank of brigadier general after WW I, replacing it briefly with the hybrid colonel-commandant and then with brigadier without the ‘general’. There is now a greater degree of standardization across most armed forces, with the term ‘one star’ describing brigadiers, brigadier generals, commodores, and so on; to ‘four star’ for full generals and their equivalent; and ‘five star’ for those forces which still retain field marshals or their equivalents.

In most 18th- and 19th-century armies there was a close association between social class and commissioned rank. This was rarely simple or straightforward, as most armies commissioned men who had little real claim to gentle birth. This increased in wartime when the demand for officers was greater. Frederick ‘the Great’ disliked bourgeois officers, but was prepared to tolerate them, especially in units at the lower end of the social scale. Even he could be persuaded that a man's conduct was so markedly honourable as to justify elevation to the nobility. David Krauel, a 50-year-old private soldier who was first to storm into the Zizkaberg at Prague in 1744, was ennobled as Krauel von Zizkaberg. However, in the Prussian army of 1786 there were only some 700 bourgeois in an officer corps of 7, 000, and all but 22 of them were company officers.

The Austrian army was more liberal, and was easily impressed by some odd pedigrees advanced by younger sons from Scots and Irish families. The French army, relatively liberal at the beginning of the 18th century grew less so as it wore on. The Ségur edict of 1781 required candidates for commissioning to produce evidence of four degrees of nobility, and the strengthening of the aristocracy's grip on officer rank helped alienate ambitious NCOs on the eve of the Revolution.

If gentle birth helped gain commissioned rank the reverse could also be true. In 1757 Maria Theresa decreed that all commoner officers with 30 years' meritorious service should be raised to the hereditary nobility. In the British army, the fact that John Elley's father was an eating-house keeper did not prevent Elley from commanding the Royal Horse Guards, being knighted, and establishing his descendants as gentlemen. The route to commissioned rank and, through it, to gentle status was made easier in the British army, which permitted the purchase of commissions: many a family put new money into a commission, as Thackeray's odious Mr Osborne demonstrates.

This association between officer rank and social status continued until well into the 20th century. In the German army of WW I social strictures on officer-recruiting remained rigid: although the number of reserve officers increased eightfold, the number of regular officers only doubled although three-quarters of the total became casualties. The British army commissioned 500 NCOs and warrant officers in the first month of the war, but relatively few of the survivors retained regular commissions after the war. And while it was easy for boys who had been to public (that is, in Britain, fee-paying) schools to gain direct commissions, especially at the start of the war, as the author R. C. Sherriff discovered, the path was far steeper if one's school did not feature on the approved list. The US army has good reason to be regarded as a meritocracy and places at West Point were traditionally in the gift of elected representatives, but its officers become gentlemen by Act of Congress.

Alongside the liberalization of social requirements for commissioning went the professionalization of officer corps, with academic and professional entry standards and specified rules for promotion. The process was subject to considerable variation, for while Austrian officers were expected, from the 1750s, to attend military academies like the Theresianische Militarakademie in Wiener-Neustadt or the Ingenieursakademie in Vienna, the purchase of commissions in the British army was not abolished until 1871. At much the same time the profession broadened its base, as medical officers and commissariat officials in most armies were admitted to commissioned status.

Although most armed forces would argue that they offer careers open to men (and, increasingly, women) of talent regardless of social background, there is widespread belief that commissioned rank demands personal qualities as well as military skills. Its holders must retain standards of behaviour, on and off duty, which do not compromise the trust vested in them or the status they hold. Some military sociologists have emphasized the ‘narrowing skill differential’ between officers, especially those in supporting services, and civilian managers, and suggested that societal pressures, and in particular the shift from institution to occupation, will inevitably chance the nature of officership. Others have identified the characteristics of corporateness, expertise, and responsibility as fundamental to any genuine profession, and have argued that these have specific and lasting relevance to the military officer.

Bibliography

• Huntington, Samuel P., The Soldier and the State: The Theory and Practice of Civil-Military Relations (Cambridge, Mass., 1957).
• Moskos, Charles C., and Wood, Frank R., The Military: More than Just a Job? (London, 1988)

— Richard Holmes

n. a person holding a position of command or authority in the armed services, in the merchant marine, or on a passenger ship.

v.

1. provide with military officers: the aristocracy continued to wield considerable political power, officering the army.

2. act as the commander of (a unit): foreign mercenaries were hired to officer new regiments.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

This entry contains information applicable to United States law only.

An individual with the responsibility of performing the duties and functions of an office, that is a duty or charge, a position of trust, or a right to exercise a public or private employment.

A public officer is ordinarily defined as an individual who has been elected or appointed to exercise the functions of an office for the benefit of the public. Executive officers, such as the president or state governors, are public officers charged with the duty to ascertain that the law is enforced and obeyed. A legislative officer, such as a member of Congress, has the duty of making the laws. A public officer whose duties include administering justice, adjudicating controversies, and interpreting the laws is called a judicial officer. A de jure officer is one who is legally appointed and qualified to exercise the office. A de facto officer is an individual who appears to be legally qualified and appointed to an office but is not due to some legal technicality, such as failure to file a financial disclosure statement within the time prescribed by statute.

A public office must be created either by statute or by constitutional provision. Public officers are distinguishable from employees in that they are required to take an oath of office and are appointed or elected to specified terms of office. The eligibility, duties, and compensation of public officers are defined by statute.

Removal from office occurs when an officer is dismissed from his or her position by a superior officer acting according to law. Sufficient cause must exist to justify the removal. When an individual is wrongfully removed from office, he or she may seek reinstatement.

A military officer is one who has been commissioned as such in the armed services.

An officer of a corporation is someone, such as the president, vice-president, treasurer, or secretary, whose main duties are to oversee the efficient operation of the business.

See: officers of the court.

General use refers to commissioned officers and warrant officers. Noncommissioned officers are also officers but are generally referred to as NCOs or specific rank.

IN BRIEF: A person who enforces the law.

Officer, I know I was going faster than 55 miles per hour, but I wasn't going to be on the road an hour. — Steven Wright, Canadian comedian.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - officer, embedsmand, funktionær, politibetjent
v. tr. - kommandere

idioms:

• officers' mess    officersmesse

Nederlands (Dutch)
officier, politieagent

Français (French)
n. - (Mil, Naut) officier, responsable (d'une société), fonctionnaire, membre du comité directeur ou du bureau exécutif, policier
v. tr. - (Mil) commander, pourvoir en officiers

idioms:

• officers' mess    mess des officiers

Deutsch (German)
n. - Offizier, Beamter, Funktionär, Polizeibeamter
v. - kommandieren

idioms:

• officers' mess    Offizierskasino, Offiziersmesse

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - αξιωματούχος, αξιωματικός, υπάλληλος, αστυφύλακας, όργανο της τάξης, δικαστικός κλητήρας
v. - στελεχώνω με αξιωματικούς, ασκώ καθήκοντα διοικητή

idioms:

• officers' mess    τραπεζαρία αξιωματικών

Italiano (Italian)
ufficiale, agente di polizia

Português (Portuguese)
n. - funcionário (m), oficial (m), diretor (m)
v. - comandar, dirigir

Русский (Russian)
служащий, офицер, полицейский

Español (Spanish)
n. - oficial, policía, guardia
v. tr. - dirigir, conducir, asignar oficiales

idioms:

• officers' mess    comedor de oficiales

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - officer, ämbetsman, tjänsteman, funktionär, polis
v. - föra befäl över, kommendera, förse med befäl

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
军官, 官员, 主管, 指挥

idioms:

• officers' mess    高级将领的餐厅

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 軍官, 官員, 主管
v. tr. - 指揮

idioms:

• officers' mess    高級將領的餐廳

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 장교, 순경, 훈공장의 4급 이상의 사람
v. tr. - 장교를 배치하다, 장교로서 지휘하다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 武官, 将校, 士官, 高級船員, 公務員, 役人, 警官, 役員, 船長
v. - 将校を配備する, 指揮する

idioms:

• returning officer    選挙管理委員

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) ضابط, موظف رسمي (فعل) يقود, يوجه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮שוטר, קצין, ממונה, פקיד, נושא משרה כנסייתית‬
v. tr. - ‮סיפק פקידים או שוטרים, פעל כמפקד‬

If you are unable to view some languages clearly, click here.

To select your translation preferences click here.

officer	police officer gift
officer easels	gift police officer