Category:Captain

Cap"tain, n. Etym: [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 ermy. (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 Cap"tain, v. t.

Defn: To act as captain of; to lead. [R.] Men who captained or accompanied the exodus from existing forms. Lowell.

captain Cap"tain, a.

Defn: Chief; superior. [R.] captain jewes in the carcanet. Shak.

- ---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

Captain - (1.) Heb. sar (1 Samuel 22:2; 2 Samuel 23:19). Rendered "chief," Genesis 40:2; Genesis 41:9; rendered also "prince," Daniel 1:7; "ruler," Judges 9:30; "governor," 1 Kings 22:26. This same Hebrew word denotes a military captain (Exodus 18:21; 2 Kings 1:9; Deuteronomy 1:15; 1 Samuel 18:13, etc.), the "captain of the body-guard" (Genesis 37:36; Genesis 39:1; Genesis 41:10; Jeremiah 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 (Jeremiah 39:13) and Arioch (Daniel 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 (Joshua 10:24; Judges 11:6, Judges 11:11; Isaiah 22:3 "rulers;" Daniel 11:18) and sometimes a civil command, a judge, magistrate, Arab. kady, (Isaiah 1:10; Isaiah 3:6; Micah 3:1, Micah 3:9). (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 (Exodus 14:7; Exodus 15:4; 1 Kings 9:22; compare 2 Kings 9:25). This word is used also to denote the king's body-guard (2 Kings 10:25; 1 Chronicles 12:18; 2 Chronicles 11:11) or aides-de-camp. (4.) The "captain of the temple" mentioned in Acts 4:1; Acts 5:24 was not a military officer, but superintendent of the guard of priests and Levites who kept watch in the temple by night. (Compare "the ruler of the house of God," 1 Chronicles 9:11; 2 Chronicles 31:13; Nehemiah 11:11.) (5.) The Captain of our salvation is a name given to our Lord (Hebrews 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" (Joshua 5:14, Joshua 5:15) is the name given to that mysterious person who manifested himself to Abraham (Genesis 12:7), and to Moses in the bush (Exodus 3:2, Exodus 3:6, etc.) the Angel of the covenant. (See ANGEL.)