mittimus

From Latin mittimus (the opening word of such a document), first-person plural of mittō (“send”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmɪtɪməs/

mittimus (plural mittimuses or mittimi)

1. (law, archaic outside the US) A warrant issued for someone to be taken into custody.
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, chapter X, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], OCLC 928184292, book IV:

     But she pertinaciously refused to make any response. So that he was about to make her mittimus to Bridewell when I departed.

2. A writ for moving records from one court to another.
   • 2013, Mark Morgenstein, Suspect in prisons chief's death may have been freed 4 years early, CNN (March 31, 2013), :

     Next, sometimes the same clerk, but often a second clerk, who may not have been in the courtroom, types up the mittimus, the formal court order that directs corrections offers^[sic] to commit someone to prison, and something could get lost in translation there.

3. A formal dismissal from a situation.

mittimus

1. first-person plural present active indicative of mittō