Search Result for "chief": 
Wordnet 3.0

NOUN (3)

1. a person who is in charge;
- Example: "the head of the whole operation"
[syn: head, chief, top dog]

2. a person who exercises control over workers;
- Example: "if you want to leave early you have to ask the foreman"
[syn: foreman, chief, gaffer, honcho, boss]

3. the head of a tribe or clan;
[syn: headman, tribal chief, chieftain, chief]


ADJECTIVE (1)

1. most important element;
- Example: "the chief aim of living"
- Example: "the main doors were of solid glass"
- Example: "the principal rivers of America"
- Example: "the principal example"
- Example: "policemen were primary targets"
- Example: "the master bedroom"
- Example: "a master switch"
[syn: chief(a), main(a), primary(a), principal(a), master(a)]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

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]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

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]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

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]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

chief adj 1: 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"; "the master bedroom"; "a master switch" [syn: chief(a), main(a), primary(a), principal(a), master(a)] n 1: a person who is in charge; "the head of the whole operation" [syn: head, chief, top dog] 2: a person who exercises control over workers; "if you want to leave early you have to ask the foreman" [syn: foreman, chief, gaffer, honcho, boss] 3: the head of a tribe or clan [syn: headman, tribal chief, chieftain, chief]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

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
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

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.