D defs.my
Entry 2 senses Webster, 1913

Posse comitatus

/päs'-ē kôm-ət-āt'-əs/ · Pos·se com·i·ta·tus · IPA
01 The power of the county, or the citizens who may be summoned by the sheriff to assist the authorities in suppressing a riot, or executing a…
  1. 1.
    The power of the county, or the citizens who may be summoned by the sheriff to assist the authorities in suppressing a riot, or executing any legal precept which is forcibly opposed.(Law)
  2. 2.
    A collection of people; a throng; a rabble.[Colloq.]
    “As if the passion that rules were the sheriff of the place, and came off with all the posse.” Locke.