cap·tain   (kāp'tən)    n.   Abbr. Capt. One who commands, leads, or guides others, especially: The officer in command of a ship, an aircraft, or a spacecraft. A precinct commander in a police or fire department, usually ranking above a lieutenant and below a chief. The designated leader of a team or crew in sports. Abbr. CPT or Capt or CAPT or Capt. A commissioned rank in the U.S. Army, Air Force, or Marine Corps that is above first lieutenant and below major. Abbr. CAPT or Capt. A commissioned rank in the U.S. Navy or Coast Guard that is above commander and below commodore. One who holds the rank of captain. A district official for a political party. A restaurant employee who is in charge of the waiters and usually attends to table seating. A bell captain. Abbr. CPT or Capt or CAPT or Capt. A commissioned rank in the U.S. Army, Air Force, or Marine Corps that is above first lieutenant and below major. Abbr. CAPT or Capt. A commissioned rank in the U.S. Navy or Coast Guard that is above commander and below commodore. One who holds the rank of captain. A district official for a political party. A restaurant employee who is in charge of the waiters and usually attends to table seating. A bell captain. A figure in the forefront; a leader: a captain of industry. One who supervises or directs the work of others, especially: A district official for a political party. A restaurant employee who is in charge of the waiters and usually attends to table seating. A bell captain. tr.v.   cap·tained, cap·tain·ing, cap·tains To act as captain of; command or direct: captained the football team. [Middle English capitain, from Old French, from Late Latin capitāneus, chief, from Latin caput, capit-, head; see kaput- in Indo-European roots.] cap'tain·cy, cap'tain·ship' n.

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.]

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.

captain 

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.)