captain
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: aeronautics
aerospace
aviation
business
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
Etymology: From Middle English capitain, capteyn, from Old French capitaine, from Late Latin capitāneus, from Latin caput (“head”) (English cap). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kap-.
Doublet of chieftain, also from Old French.
Inflected forms:
form: captains
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: captains
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: captaining
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: captained
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: captained
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: A chief or leader.
pos: noun
examples: For out of the shal come a captaine, whych shall govern my people israhel.
Stand up-stand up, Northumberland! / I bid you answer true, / If England's King has under his hand / A Captain as good as you?
gloss: The person lawfully in command of a ship or other vessel.
pos: noun
examples: Merchants, common sailors, captains of vessels, skippers, […] naval officers of all countries, and the Governments of several states on the two continents, were deeply interested in the matter.
The captain is the last man to leave a sinking ship.
gloss: An army officer with a rank between the most senior grade of lieutenant and major.
pos: noun
examples: "A fine man, that Dunwody, yonder," commented the young captain, as they parted, and as he turned to his prisoner. "We'll see him on in Washington some day. He is strengthening his forces now against Mr. Benton out there.[…]."
gloss: A naval officer with a rank between commander and commodore.
pos: noun
gloss: A commissioned officer in the United States Navy, Coast Guard, NOAA Corps, or PHS Corps of a grade superior to a commander and junior to a rear admiral (lower half). A captain is equal in grade or rank to a United States Army, Marine Corps, or Air Force colonel.
pos: noun
gloss: A rank qualifying an airline pilot to act as pilot in command of a two-pilot flight crew.
pos: noun
gloss: One of the athletes on a sports team who is designated to make decisions, and is allowed to speak for his team with a referee or official.
pos: noun
examples: Captain's supposed to be the leader, right?
As Di Matteo celebrated and captain John Terry raised the trophy for the fourth time, the Italian increased his claims to become the permanent successor to Andre Villas-Boas by landing a trophy.
gloss: The leader of a group of workers.
pos: noun
examples: John Henry said to the captain, "A man ain't nothing but a man."
The assistant mine captains then reported to the mine captain in charge of all underground operations and subordinate only to the superintendent himself.
gloss: The head boy of a school.
pos: noun
gloss: A maître d', a headwaiter.
pos: noun
examples: 1977, Don Felder, Don Henley, and Glenn Frey, lyricists, "Hotel California",
So I called up the Captain, "Please bring me my wine." / He said: "We haven't had that spirit here since 1969."
gloss: An honorific title given to a prominent person. See colonel.
pos: noun
tags: Southern-US
gloss: To act as captain
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
gloss: To exercise command of a ship, aircraft or sports team.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
Related words: cap
capital
capitalism
capitulate
capitulation
chapiter
chapter
chief
chieftain
Derived words: barangay captain
bell captain
block captain
bus captain
Captain America
captain ball
captaincy
captainess
captain-general
captain general
captainish
captainless
captainlike
captainly
captain of industry
captain of sea and war
captain of the fleet
captain regent
captain save a hoe
Captains Flat
captainship
captain's servant
cocaptain
copper captain
corvette captain
country captain
cruiser captain
donatary captain
flag captain
fleet captain
flotilla captain
frigate captain
group captain
led captain
police captain
post captain
post-captain
road captain
school captain
sea captain
senior captain
senior ship of the line captain
senior ship-of-the-line captain
ship-of-the-line captain
ship of the line captain
staff captain
subcaptain
the captain goes down with the ship
train captain
undercaptain
vice-captain
Translations: