Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Captain
Cap′tain
(kăp′tĭn)
, Noun.
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 teamA 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.
Cap′tain
,Verb.
T.
To act as captain of; to lead.
[R.]
Men who
captained
or accompanied the exodus from existing forms. Lowell.
Cap′tain
,Adj.
Chief; superior.
[R.]
captain
jewes in the carcanet. Shakespeare
Webster 1828 Edition
Captain
CAPTAIN
,Noun.
1.
Literally, a head or chief officer; appropriately, the military officer who commands a company, whether of infantry, cavalry, artillery or matrosses.2.
The commander of a ship of war, or of a merchantman. But the latter is often called a master.3.
The commander of a military band, a sense that occurs in the sciptures; as a captain of fifty.4.
A man skilled in war or military affairs; as, Lord Wellington is a great captain.5.
A chief commander. Shak. But in this sense rarely used, but in composition.Captain-general, is the commander in chief of an army, or of the militia. The covernor of a state is Captain-General of the militia.
Captain-Lieutenant, is an officer, who with the rank of captain and pay of lieutenant, commands a company or troop. Thus the colonel of a regiment being the captain of the first company, that company is commanded by a Captain-Lieutenant.
Captain-Bashaw, or Capudan Bashaw, in Turkey, is the High Admiral.
CAPTAIN
,Adj.