Chieftain

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Chieftain \Chief"tain\, n. [OE. cheftayn, chevetayn, OF.
     chevetain, F. capitaine, LL. capitanus, fr. L. caput head.
     Cf. {Captain}, and see {chief}.]
     A captain, leader, or commander; a chief; the head of a
     troop, army, or clan.
  


     Syn: Chief; commander; leader; head. See {Chief}.
          [1913 Webster] Chieftaincy

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  chieftain
       n 1: the leader of a group of people; "a captain of industry"
            [syn: {captain}]
       2: the head of a tribe or clan [syn: {headman}, {tribal chief}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  35 Moby Thesaurus words for "chieftain":
     anointed king, boss, chief, cock, crowned head, dynast, emperor,
     grand duke, head, headman, hierarch, high chief, honcho, imperator,
     king, king-emperor, kinglet, leader, lord paramount, majesty,
     master, monarch, overlord, paramount, petty king, potentate,
     prince, prince consort, royal, royal personage, royalty, ruler,
     sovereign, suzerain, tetrarch