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An officer who ranks next below a captain, -- ranking with a lieutenant colonel in the army.

An officer who ranks next above a captain; sometimes, by courtesy, the senior captain of a squadron. The rank of commodore corresponds with that of brigadier general in the army.

W. Irving. This fact was infamous And ill beseeming any common man, Much more a knight, a captain and a leader. Shak. Above the vulgar flight of common souls. A. Murpphy.

A subdivision of a regiment of troops under the command of a captain, numbering in the United States (full strength) 100 men.

elicacy; deliciousness; fastidiousness; squeamishness. The daintiness and niceness of our captains Hakluyt. More notorious for the daintiness of the provision . . . than for the massiveness of the dish. Hakewill. The duke exeeded in the daintiness of his leg and foot, and the earl in the fine shape of his hands, Sir H.…

To play with; to put off or delay by trifles; to wheedle. [Obs.] Captains do so dandle their doings, and dally in the service, as it they would not have the enemy subdued. Spenser.

Dealing; transaction. [Obs.] Good Captain Bessus, tell us the discourse Betwixt Tigranes and our king, and how We got the victory. Beau. & Fl.

rive or split; as, disparted air; disparted towers. [Archaic] Them in twelve troops their captain did dispart. Spenser. The world will be whole, and refuses to be disparted. Emerson.

[Obs.] Hannibal, duke of Carthage. Sir T. Elyot. All were dukes once, who were "duces" -- captains or leaders of their people. Trench.

will be prodigious hard to prove That this is eke the throne of love. Prior. A trainband captain eke was he Of famous London town. Cowper.

ineers, ranking with ensigns and lieutenants, chief engineers, ranking from lieutenant to captain, and engineer in chief, ranking with commodore and having charge of the Bureau of Steam Engineering.

duchess, a great estate. Latimer. Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords, high captains, and chief estates of Galilee. Mark vi. 21.

grace in man! Milton. -- First mate, an officer in a merchant vessel next in rank to the captain. -- First name, same as Christian name. See under Name, n. -- First officer (Naut.), in the merchant service, same as First mate (above). -- First sergeant (Mil.), the ranking non-commissioned officer in a company; the…

The bushy tail of a dog, as of a setter. Black flag. See under Black. -- Flag captain, Flag leutenant, etc., special officers attached to the flagship, as aids to the flag officer. -- Flag officer, the commander of a fleet or squadron; an admiral, or commodore. -- Flag of truse, a white flag carried or displayed to…

ompany, especially war vessels; also, the collective naval force of a country, etc. Fleet captain, the senior aid of the admiral of a fleet, when a captain. Ham. Nav. Encyc.

A large Dutch coasting vessel. Captain George Weymouth made a voyage of discovery to the northwest with two flyboats. Purchas.

t, lost, or spent, as money, etc. [Irish] "While I am to the fore." W. Collins. "How many captains in the regiment had two thousand pounds to the fore" Thackeray.

To address respectfully with the term forsooth. [Obs.] The captain of the "Charles" had forsoothed her, though he knew her well enough and she him. Pepys.

nd designed to be fast; a boat appropriated to the use of the commanding officer; as, the captain's gig.

of a ship of war, usually occupied as a messroom by the commissioned officers, except the captain; -- called wardroom in the United States navy.