- 1 the person in charge of a ship or commercial aircraft Captain Cook The captain gave the order to abandon ship. Captain Jones and his co-pilot See related entries: People in air travel, People in sea travel
- 2 an officer of fairly high rank in the navy, the army and the US air force Captain Lance Price see also group captain Wordfindernavyadmiral, aircraft carrier, base, captain, command, fleet, navy, submarine, torpedo, warship See related entries: The army, The navy
- 3 the leader of a group of people, especially a sports team She was captain of the hockey team at school. He has just been made team captain.
- 4 an officer of high rank in a US police or fire department Word Originlate Middle English (in the general sense ‘chief or leader’): from Old French capitain (superseding earlier chevetaigne ‘chieftain’), from late Latin capitaneus ‘chief’, from Latin caput, capit- ‘head’.
noun jump to other results
BrE BrE//ˈkæptɪn//; NAmE NAmE//ˈkæptɪn//
The army, People in air travel, The navy, People in sea travelCheck pronunciation: captain
