The Collaborative International Dictionary
Captain \Cap"tain\ (k[a^]p"t[i^]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.]
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A head, or chief officer; as:
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.
An officer in the United States navy, next above a commander and below a commodore, and ranking with a colonel in the army.
By courtesy, an officer actually commanding a vessel, although not having the rank of captain.
The master or commanding officer of a merchant vessel.
One in charge of a portion of a ship's company; as, a captain of a top, captain of a gun, etc.
The foreman of a body of workmen.
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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.
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A military leader; a warrior. Foremost captain of his time. --Tennyson. Captain general.
The commander in chief of an army or armies, or of the militia.
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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.
Wikipedia
Captain lieutenant or captain-lieutenant is a military rank, used in a number of navies worldwide and formerly in the British Army. It is generally equivalent to the Commonwealth or US rank of lieutenant, and has the NATO rank code of OF-2, though this can vary.
The term Captain Lieutenant may refer to:
- Captain Lieutenant (Russian Navy), a rank in the Russian Navy, Red Fleet/Soviet Navy and previously Imperial Russian Navy
- Captain-lieutenant, a former rank in the British army
- Kapitänleutnant, a rank in the German Navy