U.S. Navy. a commissioned officer ranking between lieutenant junior grade and lieutenant commander.
3.
a person who holds an office, civil or military, in subordination to a superior for whom he or she acts: If he can't attend, he will send his lieutenant.
[Origin: 1325–75; ME < MF, n. use of adj. phrase lieu tenant place-holding. See locum tenens, lieu, tenant]
Abbr. LT or Lt. A commissioned rank in the U.S. Navy or Coast Guard that is above lieutenant junior grade and below lieutenant commander.
A first lieutenant.
A second lieutenant.
One who holds the rank of lieutenant, first lieutenant, or second lieutenant.
(lěf-těn'ənt) A commissioned officer in the British and Canadian navies ranking just below a lieutenant commander.
An officer in a police or fire department ranking below a captain.
One who acts in place of or represents a superior; an assistant or deputy: the organized crime figure and his lieutenants. See Synonyms at assistant.
[Middle English, deputy, from Old French : lieu, lieu; see lieu + tenant, present participle of tenir, to hold (from Latin tenēre; see ten- in Indo-European roots).]
lieu·ten'an·cy n.
Word History: What is the connection between a lieutenant governor and a lieutenant in the army? In the etymology of the word lieutenant, at least, the connection lies in their holding a place; that is, the word lieutenant is from an Old French compound made up of lieu, "place," and tenant, "holding." The word in Old French and the borrowed Middle English word lieutenant, first recorded near the end of the 14th century, referred to a person who acted for another as a deputy. This usage has survived, for example, in our term lieutenant governor, the deputy of the governor and the one who replaces the governor if need be. In military parlance lieutenant appears by itself as well as in compounds such as first lieutenant and second lieutenant, which muddy the water a bit, but the original notion of the word in military usage was that the officer it referred to ranked below the next one up and could replace him if need be. A lieutenant in the U.S. Army could thus step into the shoes of a captain.
c.1375, "one who takes the place of another," from O.Fr. lieu tenant "substitute," lit. "placeholder," from lieu "place" + tenant, prp. of tenir "to hold." The notion is of a "substitute" for higher authority. Specific military sense of "officer next in rank to a captain" is from 1578. Pronunciation with lef- is common in Britain, and spellings to reflect it date back to 14c., but the origin of it is mysterious.
an assistant with power to act when his superior is absent [syn: deputy]
4.
an officer holding a commissioned rank in the United States Navy or the United States Coast Guard; below lieutenant commander and above lieutenant junior grade
Lieu*ten"ant\ (l[-u]*t[e^]n"ant), n. [F., fr. lieu place + tenant holding, p. pr. of tenir to hold, L. tenere. See Lieu, and Tenant, and cf. Locum Tenens.]1. An officer who supplies the place of a superior in his absence; a representative of, or substitute for, another in the performance of any duty. The lawful magistrate, who is the vicegerent or lieutenant of God. --Abp. Bramhall. 2. (a) A commissioned officer in the army, next below a captain. (b) A commissioned officer in the British navy, in rank next below a commander. (c) A commissioned officer in the United States navy, in rank next below a lieutenant commander. Note: Lieutenant is often used, either adjectively or in hyphened compounds, to denote an officer, in rank next below another, especially when the duties of the higher officer may devolve upon the lower one; as, lieutenant general, or lieutenant-general; lieutenant colonel, or lieutenant-colonel; lieutenant governor, etc. Deputy lieutenant, the title of any one of the deputies or assistants of the lord lieutenant of a county. [Eng.] Lieutenant colonel, an army officer next in rank above major, and below colonel. Lieutenant commander, an officer in the United States navy, in rank next below a commander and next above a lieutenant. Lieutenant general. See in Vocabulary. Lieutenant governor. (a) An officer of a State, being next in rank to the governor, and, in case of the death or resignation of the latter, himself acting as governor. [U. S.] (b) A deputy governor acting as the chief civil officer of one of several colonies under a governor general. [Eng.]
Lo"cum te"nens\ [L., holding the place; locus place + tenens, p. pr. of tenere to hold. Cf. Lieutenant.] A substitute or deputy; one filling an office for a time.
Ten"ant\, n. [F. tenant, p. pr. of tenir to hold. See Tenable, and cf. Lieutenant.]1. (Law) One who holds or possesses lands, or other real estate, by any kind of right, whether in fee simple, in common, in severalty, for life, for years, or at will; also, one who has the occupation or temporary possession of lands or tenements the title of which is in another; -- correlative to landlord. See Citation from --Blackstone, under Tenement, 2. --Blount. Wharton. 2. One who has possession of any place; a dweller; an occupant. "Sweet tenants of this grove." --Cowper. The hhappy tenant of your shade. --Cowley. The sister tenants of the middle deep. --Byron. Tenant in capite [L. in in + capite, abl. of caput head, chief.], or Tenant in chief, by the laws of England, one who holds immediately of the king. According to the feudal system, all lands in England are considered as held immediately or mediately of the king, who is styled lord paramount. Such tenants, however, are considered as having the fee of the lands and permanent possession. --Blackstone. Tenant in common. See under Common.
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