captain

A chief or leader.

• For out of the shal come a captaine, whych shall govern my people israhel.
• Stand up-stand up, Northumberland! / I bid you answer true, / If England's King has under his hand / A Captain as good as you?

The person lawfully in command of a ship or other vessel.

• The captain is the last man to leave a sinking ship.

An army officer with a rank between the most senior grade of lieutenant and major.

• "A fine man, that Dunwody, yonder," commented the young captain, as they parted, and as he turned to his prisoner. "We'll see him on in Washington some day. He is strengthening his forces now against Mr. Benton out there.[…]."

A naval officer with a rank between commander and commodore.

A commissioned officer in the United States Navy, Coast Guard, NOAA Corps, or PHS Corps of a grade superior to a commander and junior to a rear admiral (lower half). A captain is equal in grade or rank to a United States Army, Marine Corps, or Air Force colonel.

A rank qualifying an airline pilot to act as pilot in command of a two-pilot flight crew.

One of the athletes on a sports team who is designated to make decisions, and is allowed to speak for his team with a referee or official.

• Captain's supposed to be the leader, right?
• As Di Matteo celebrated and captain John Terry raised the trophy for the fourth time, the Italian increased his claims to become the permanent successor to Andre Villas-Boas by landing a trophy.

The leader of a group of workers.

• John Henry said to the captain, "A man ain't nothing but a man."

The head boy of a school.

A maître d', a headwaiter.

• 1977, Don Felder, Don Henley, and Glenn Frey, lyricists, "Hotel California", So I called up the Captain, "Please bring me my wine." / He said: "We haven't had that spirit here since 1969."

To act as captainintransitive

To exercise command of a ship, aircraft or sports team.transitive

• The Olympic carried 1,313 passengers on its first trip across the Atlantic. It was captained by Edward Smith — the same captain who went down with the Titanic less than a year later.