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Definition of bailiff : 1. A sheriff's deputy, appointed to make arrests, collect fines, summon juries, etc.
2. An overseer or under steward of an estate, who directs husbandry operations, collects rents, etc.
3. Originally, a person put in charge of something especially, a chief officer, magistrate, or keeper, as of a county, town, hundred, or castle; one to whom power of custody or care are intrusted.

Synonyms:

clerk, chief justice, insolvent, delinquent, debtor, attorney, the bench, advocate, circuit judge, the bar, overdrawn, debt-ridden, back, attorney general, red ink, indebted, liable, barrister

Usage examples:

• I opened the letter and read as follows: " Yesterday a bailiff waited for my door to be opened and slipped in and arrested me. - "The Memoires of Casanova, Complete The Rare Unabridged London Edition Of 1894, plus An Unpublished Chapter of History, By Arthur Symons", Jacques Casanova de Seingalt.
• I engaged an excellent bailiff, who, with his wife and daughter, with nine other emigrants, including a blacksmith, were to sail for my intended settlement in Ceylon. - "Eight Years' Wandering in Ceylon", Samuel White Baker.
• Only consider, Scipio, this change in my fortunes, Yesterday I was a student, and to- day I found myself a bailiff. - "The Exemplary Novels of Cervantes", Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra.