Chief

6 definitions found

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

  Ordinary \Or"di*na*ry\, n.; pl. {Ordinaries} (-r[i^]z).
     1. (Law)
        (a) (Roman Law) An officer who has original jurisdiction
            in his own right, and not by deputation.
        (b) (Eng. Law) One who has immediate jurisdiction in
            matters ecclesiastical; an ecclesiastical judge; also,


            a deputy of the bishop, or a clergyman appointed to
            perform divine service for condemned criminals and
            assist in preparing them for death.
        (c) (Am. Law) A judicial officer, having generally the
            powers of a judge of probate or a surrogate.
            [1913 Webster]
  
     2. The mass; the common run. [Obs.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
              I see no more in you than in the ordinary
              Of nature's salework.                 --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. That which is so common, or continued, as to be considered
        a settled establishment or institution. [R.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Spain had no other wars save those which were grown
              into an ordinary.                     --Bacon.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. Anything which is in ordinary or common use.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Water buckets, wagons, cart wheels, plow socks, and
              other ordinaries.                     --Sir W.
                                                    Scott.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     5. A dining room or eating house where a meal is prepared for
        all comers, at a fixed price for the meal, in distinction
        from one where each dish is separately charged; a table
        d'h[^o]te; hence, also, the meal furnished at such a
        dining room. --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              All the odd words they have picked up in a
              coffeehouse, or a gaming ordinary, are produced as
              flowers of style.                     --Swift.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              He exacted a tribute for licenses to hawkers and
              peddlers and to ordinaries.           --Bancroft.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     6. (Her.) A charge or bearing of simple form, one of nine or
        ten which are in constant use. The {bend}, {chevron},
        {chief}, {cross}, {fesse}, {pale}, and {saltire} are
        uniformly admitted as ordinaries. Some authorities include
        bar, bend sinister, pile, and others. See {Subordinary}.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {In ordinary}.
        (a) In actual and constant service; statedly attending and
            serving; as, a physician or chaplain in ordinary. An
            ambassador in ordinary is one constantly resident at a
            foreign court.
        (b) (Naut.) Out of commission and laid up; -- said of a
            naval vessel.
  
     {Ordinary of the Mass} (R. C. Ch.), the part of the Mass
        which is the same every day; -- called also the {canon of
        the Mass}.
        [1913 Webster]

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

  Chief \Chief\ (ch[=e]n), n. [OE. chief, chef, OF. chief, F.
     chef, fr. L. caput head, possibly akin to E. head. Cf.
     {Captain}, {Chapter}]
     1. The head or leader of any body of men; a commander, as of
        an army; a head man, as of a tribe, clan, or family; a
        person in authority who directs the work of others; the
        principal actor or agent.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. The principal part; the most valuable portion.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The chief of the things which should be utterly
              destroyed.                            --1 Sam. xv.
                                                    21
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. (Her.) The upper third part of the field. It is supposed
        to be composed of the dexter, sinister, and middle chiefs.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {In chief}.
        (a) At the head; as, a commander in chief.
        (b) (Eng. Law) From the king, or sovereign; as, tenure in
            chief, tenure directly from the king.
  
     Syn: Chieftain; captain; general; commander; leader; head;
          principal; sachem; sagamore; sheik.
  
     Usage: {Chief}, {chieftain}, {Commander}, {Leader}. These
            words fluctuate somewhat in their meaning according to
            circumstances, but agree in the general idea of rule
            and authority. The term chief is now more usually
            applied to one who is a head man, leader, or commander
            in civil or military affairs, or holds a hereditary or
            acquired rank in a tribe or clan; as, the chief of
            police; the chief of an Indian tribe. A chieftain is
            the chief of a clan or tribe, or a military leader. A
            commander directs the movements of or has control over
            a body of men, as a military or naval force. A leader
            is one whom men follow, as in a political party, a
            legislative body, a military or scientific expedition,
            etc., one who takes the command and gives direction in
            particular enterprises.
            [1913 Webster]

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

  Chief \Chief\, a.
     1. Highest in office or rank; principal; head. "Chief
        rulers." --John. xii. 42.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Principal or most eminent in any quality or action; most
        distinguished; having most influence; taking the lead;
        most important; as, the chief topic of conversation; the
        chief interest of man.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Very intimate, near, or close. [Obs.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
              A whisperer separateth chief friends. --Prov. xvi.
                                                    28.
  
     Syn: Principal; head; leading; main; paramount; supreme;
          prime; vital; especial; great; grand; eminent; master.
          [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  chief
       adj : most important element; "the chief aim of living"; "the main
             doors were of solid glass"; "the principal rivers of
             America"; "the principal example"; "policemen were
             primary targets" [syn: {chief(a)}, {main(a)}, {primary(a)},
              {principal(a)}]
       n 1: a person who is in charge; "the head of the whole operation"
            [syn: {head}, {top dog}]
       2: a person who exercises control over workers; "if you want to
          leave early you have to ask the foreman" [syn: {foreman},
          {gaffer}, {honcho}, {boss}]

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

  357 Moby Thesaurus words for "chief":
     A per se, Big Brother, ace, achievement, acmatic, alerion,
     all-absorbing, animal charge, annulet, anointed king, antecedent,
     anterior, apical, arch, argent, armorial bearings, armory, arms,
     ascendant, at the head, auditor, azure, bandeau, banner, bar,
     bar sinister, baton, bearings, bend, bend sinister, big cheese,
     big wheel, big-timer, bigwig, billet, blazon, blazonry, boatswain,
     bordure, boss, broad arrow, bwana, cadency mark, canton, capital,
     captain, cardinal, central, champion, chaplet, charge, chef,
     chevron, chieftain, church dignitary, coat of arms, cock,
     cockatrice, commander, commanding, comptroller, consequential,
     consummate, controller, controlling, coronet, crescent, crest,
     cross, cross moline, crown, crowned head, crowning, dean, device,
     dictator, difference, differencing, dignitary, directing,
     directive, directorial, directory, dominant, doyen, doyenne, duce,
     dynast, eagle, ecclesiarch, effective, elder, electronics king,
     eminence, emperor, employer, ermine, ermines, erminites, erminois,
     escutcheon, essential, exordial, falcon, fess, fess point, field,
     file, first, first and foremost, flanch, fleur-de-lis,
     floor manager, floorman, floorwalker, focal, fore, foregoing,
     forehand, foreman, foremost, forward, fret, front, frontal,
     fugleman, fuhrer, fur, fusil, gaffer, ganger, garland, general,
     genius, goodman, governing, governor, grand duke, great, greatest,
     griffin, guiding, gules, guru, gyron, hatchment, head, heading,
     headman, headmost, hegemonic, hegemonistic, helmet,
     heraldic device, hierarch, high chief, high priest, higher-up,
     highest, himself, honcho, honor point, husband, impalement,
     impaling, imperator, important, important person, in ascendancy,
     in charge, in chief, in the ascendant, inescutcheon, initiatory,
     inspector, key, king, king-emperor, kingfish, kinglet, kingpin,
     label, laureate, lead, leader, leading, leading light, liege,
     liege lord, lion, lord, lord paramount, lozenge, luminary,
     magisterial, maiden, main, majesty, major, man, manager,
     managerial, managing, mantling, marshaling, martlet, mascle,
     master, master spirit, maximal, maximum, meridian, meridional,
     metal, momentous, monarch, monitor, motto, mullet, nombril point,
     noncommissioned officer, nonpareil, notability, number one,
     octofoil, or, ordinary, orle, outstanding, overlord, overman,
     overmost, overriding, overruling, overseer, padrone, pale, paly,
     paragon, paramount, paterfamilias, patriarch, patron, pean,
     personage, petty king, pheon, potent, potentate, precedent,
     preceding, precessional, precursory, predominant, predominate,
     preeminent, prefatory, preliminary, preludial, prelusive, premier,
     preparatory, prepollent, preponderant, preponderate, prepotent,
     prevailing, prevalent, prevenient, prima donna, primal, primary,
     prime, prince, prince consort, principal, prior, proctor, prodigy,
     proemial, prominent, propaedeutic, purpure, quarter, quartering,
     rabbi, ranking, regnant, regulating, regulative, regulatory,
     reigning, ringleader, rose, royal, royal personage, royalty, ruler,
     ruling, sable, sahib, saltire, scutcheon, seigneur, seignior,
     senior, shield, significant, sirdar, slave driver, sovereign,
     spread eagle, star, starets, stellar, straw boss, subforeman,
     subordinary, summital, super, supereminent, superintendent,
     superior, superman, superstar, supervisor, supreme, surveyor,
     suzerain, taskmaster, teacher, telling, tenne, tetrarch,
     the greatest, the most, tincture, tip-top, top, top dog, topflight,
     topmost, torse, tressure, ultimate, unicorn, upmost, uppermost,
     vair, vert, vertical, virtuoso, visitor, weighty, wreath, yale,
     zenithal
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  CHIEF, principal. One who is put above the rest; as, chief magistrate chief 
  justice : it also signifies the best of a number of things. It is frequently 
  used in composition.