From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishcolonelcolo‧nel /ˈkɜːnl $ ˈkɜːr-/ ●●○ noun [countable] PMAa high rank in the army, Marines, or the US air force, or someone who has this rank
Examples from the Corpus
colonel• In 1623 he was deputy lieutenant in Cambridgeshire, and in 1625, a colonel of the Suffolk regiments defending the coasts.• An elderly colonel with a steel gray crew cut stood to one side, ready to intervene if the questioning got difficult.• During that time I went from captain to full colonel.• Similarly, the army, when faced with a budget cut, never points the finger at desk-bound lieutenant colonels.• The ghosts of retired colonels haunt some of Torquay's menus.• Back in his office he put through a call to the colonel.• At the end, Rakovsky opened a bottle of his favourite Scotch whisky and offered a drink to the young colonel.Origin colonel (1500-1600) coronal “colonel” ((16-17 centuries)), from French coronnel, from Old Italian colonnello “column of soldiers, colonel”, from colonna “column”, from Latin columna; → COLUMN 