Definition of "water-bailiff" [water-bailiff]

• A custom house officer in a port town whose duty is to search ships. (noun)
• A former officer of the London corporation who saw to the observance of the statutes and by-laws applicable to the river Thames. (noun)
• See water-bailiff, under bailiff. (noun)

The Century Dictionary (Public Domain)

• "In all innocence, I accepted — and I haven't seen that five bob yet, because the randy baggage had to shell out all her loose change to buy the silence of the grinning water-bailiff who caught us unawares in the reeds, where she was teaching me natural history after her swim."
• "In all innocence, I accepted - and I haven't seen that five bob yet, because the randy baggage had to shell out all her loose change to buy the silence of the grinning water-bailiff who caught us unawares in the reeds, where she was teaching me natural history after her swim."
• "They had confined me to my room -- Locke was a justice of the peace-and kept me there with the muff Duberly sitting outside the door like a blasted water-bailiff."