English Dictionary: Captain | by the DICT Development Group |
5 results for Captain | |
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]: | |
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From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Captain \Cap"tain\ (k[acr]p"t[icr]n), n. [OE. capitain, captain, OF. capitain, F. capitaine (cf. Sp. capitan, It. capitano), LL. capitaneus, capitanus, fr. L. caput the head. See under {Chief}, and cf. {Chieftain}.] 1. A head, or chief officer; as: (a) The military officer who commands a company, troop, or battery, or who has the rank entitling him to do so though he may be employed on other service. (b) An officer in the United States navy, next above a commander and below a commodore, and ranking with a colonel in the army. (c) By courtesy, an officer actually commanding a vessel, although not having the rank of captain. (d) The master or commanding officer of a merchant vessel. (e) One in charge of a portion of a ship's company; as, a captain of a top, captain of a gun, etc. (f) The foreman of a body of workmen. (g) A person having authority over others acting in concert; as, the captain of a boat's crew; the captain of a football team. A trainband captain eke was he. --Cowper. The Rhodian captain, relying on . . . the lightness of his vessel, passed, in open day, through all the guards. --Arbuthnot. 2. A military leader; a warrior. Foremost captain of his time. --Tennyson. {Captain general}. (a) The commander in chief of an army or armies, or of the militia. (b) The Spanish governor of Cuba and its dependent islands. {Captain lieutenant}, a lieutenant with the rank and duties of captain but with a lieutenant's pay, -- as in the first company of an English regiment. | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Captain \Cap"tain\, v. t. To act as captain of; to lead. [R.] Men who captained or accompanied the exodus from existing forms. --Lowell. | |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Captain \Cap"tain\, a. Chief; superior. [R.] captain jewes in the carcanet. --Shak. | |
From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]: | |
Captain (1.) Heb. sar (1 Sam. 22:2; 2 Sam. 23:19). Rendered "chief," Gen. 40:2; 41:9; rendered also "prince," Dan. 1:7; "ruler," Judg. 9:30; "governor,' 1 Kings 22:26. This same Hebrew word denotes a military captain (Ex. 18:21; 2 Kings 1:9; Deut. 1:15; 1 Sam. 18:13, etc.), the "captain of the body-guard" (Gen. 37:36; 39:1; 41:10; Jer. 40:1), or, as the word may be rendered, "chief of the executioners" (marg.). The officers of the king's body-guard frequently acted as executioners. Nebuzar-adan (Jer. 39:13) and Arioch (Dan. 2:14) held this office in Babylon. The "captain of the guard" mentioned in Acts 28:16 was the Praetorian prefect, the commander of the Praetorian troops. (2.) Another word (Heb. katsin) so translated denotes sometimes a military (Josh. 10:24; Judg. 11:6, 11; Isa. 22:3 "rulers;" Dan. 11:18) and sometimes a civil command, a judge, magistrate, Arab. _kady_, (Isa. 1:10; 3:6; Micah 3:1, 9). (3.) It is also the rendering of a Hebrew word (shalish) meaning "a third man," or "one of three." The LXX. render in plural by _tristatai_; i.e., "soldiers fighting from chariots," so called because each war-chariot contained three men, one of whom acted as charioteer while the other two fought (Ex. 14:7; 15:4; 1 Kings 9:22; comp. 2 Kings 9:25). This word is used also to denote the king's body-guard (2 Kings 10:25; 1 Chr. 12:18; 2 Chr. 11:11) or aides-de-camp. (4.) The "captain of the temple" mentioned in Acts 4:1 and 5:24 was not a military officer, but superintendent of the guard of priests and Levites who kept watch in the temple by night. (Comp. "the ruler of the house of God," 1 Chr. 9:11; 2 Chr. 31:13; Neh. 11:11.) (5.) The Captain of our salvation is a name given to our Lord (Heb. 2:10), because he is the author and source of our salvation, the head of his people, whom he is conducting to glory. The "captain of the Lord's host" (Josh. 5:14, 15) is the name given to that mysterious person who manifested himself to Abraham (Gen. 12:7), and to Moses in the bush (Ex. 3:2, 6, etc.) the Angel of the covenant. (See {ANGEL}.) |