bench warrant

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A warrant issued by a judge or court ordering the apprehension of a person who has failed to appear in court as required.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun In law, a warrant issued by a judge or court, or by order of a judge or court, for the apprehension of an offender: so called in opposition to a justice's warrant, issued by an ordinary justice of the peace or police magistrate.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• (Law) A process issued by a presiding judge or by a court against a person guilty of some contempt, or indicted for some crime; -- so called in distinction from a justice's warrant.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun An arrest warrant issued by a court against a person guilty of some contempt or indicted for some crime, authorizing his or her arrest on sight.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a warrant authorizing law enforcement officials to apprehend an offender and bring that person to court