Definition of marshal

• n. - Originally, an officer who had the care of horses; a groom.
• n. - An officer of high rank, charged with the arrangement of ceremonies, the conduct of operations, or the like
• n. - One who goes before a prince to declare his coming and provide entertainment; a harbinger; a pursuivant.
• n. - One who regulates rank and order at a feast or any other assembly, directs the order of procession, and the like.
• n. - The chief officer of arms, whose duty it was, in ancient times, to regulate combats in the lists.
• n. - The highest military officer.
• n. - A ministerial officer, appointed for each judicial district of the United States, to execute the process of the courts of the United States, and perform various duties, similar to those of a sheriff. The name is also sometimes applied to certain police officers of a city.
• v. t. - To dispose in order; to arrange in a suitable manner; as, to marshal troops or an army.
• v. t. - To direct, guide, or lead.
• v. t. - To dispose in due order, as the different quarterings on an escutcheon, or the different crests when several belong to an achievement.