Definitions for chief
tʃifchief

Princeton's WordNet(4.33 / 3 votes)Rate this definition:

1. head, chief, top dognoun

   a person who is in charge

   "the head of the whole operation"

2. foreman, chief, gaffer, honcho, bossnoun

   a person who exercises control over workers

   "if you want to leave early you have to ask the foreman"

3. headman, tribal chief, chieftain, chiefadjective

   the head of a tribe or clan

4. chief(a), main(a), primary(a), principal(a), master(a)adjective

   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"

Wiktionary(3.00 / 2 votes)Rate this definition:

1. chiefnoun

   A leader or head of a group of people, organisation, etc.

2. chiefnoun

   The top part of a shield or escutcheon.

3. chiefnoun

   A head officer in a department, organization etc.; a boss.

   All firefighters report to the fire chief.

4. chiefnoun

   An informal address to an equal.

   Hey, chief.

5. chiefadjective

   Primary; principal.

   Negligence was the chief cause of the disaster.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. CHIEFadjective

   Etymology: chef, the head, Fr.

   1. Principal; most eminent; above the rest in any respect.

   These were the chief of the officers that were over Solomon’s works. Kings ix. 23.

   The hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass. Ezra ix. 2.

   Your country, chief in arms, abroad defend;
   At home, with morals, arts, and laws amend. Alexander Pope, Epist.

   2. Eminent; extraordinary.

   A froward man soweth strife, and a whisperer separateth chief friends Proverbs xvi. 28.

   3. Capital; of the first order; that to which other parts are inferior, or subordinate.

   I came to have a good general view of the apostle’s main purpose in writing the epistle, and the chief branches of his discourse wherein he prosecuted it. John Locke, St. Paul’s Ep. Pref. to.

   4. It is used by some writers in the superlative degree; but, I think, improperly: the comparative is never found.

   We beseech you, bend you to remain
   Here in the cheer and comfort of our eye,
   Our chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son. William Shakespeare, Hamlet.

   Doeg an Edomite, the chiefest of the herdmen. 1 Sa xxi. 7.

   He sometimes denied admission to the chiefest officers of the army. Edward Hyde, b. viii.

2. Chiefnoun

   Etymology: from the adjective.

   1. A commander; a leader.

   Is pain to them
   Less pain, less to be fled? or thou than they
   Less hardy to endure? couragious chief!
   The first in flight from pain. John Milton, Paradise Lost, b. iv.

   After or before were never known
   Such chiefs; as each an army seem’d alone. John Dryden, Fab.

   A wit’s a feather, and a chief a rod;
   An honest man’s the noblest work of God. Alexander Pope, Ess. on Man.

   A prudent chief not always must display
   His pow’rs in equal ranks, and fair array;
   But with th’ occasion and the place comply,
   Conceal his force, nay seem sometimes to fly. Alexander Pope, Ess. Crit.

   2. In Chief, in law. without a superior lord.

   All sums demandable, either for licence of alienation to be made of lands holden in chief, or for the pardon of any such alienation already made without licence, have been stayed in the way to the hanaper. Francis Bacon, Off. Alienations.

   I shall be proud to hold my dependance on you in chief, as I do part of my small fortune in Wiltshire. John Dryden, Cleom. Ded. to.

   3. In Edmund Spenser it seems to signify somewhat like atchievement; a mark of distinction.

   Where be the nosegays that she dight for thee?
   The coloured chaplets wrought with a chief,
   The knottish rush-rings, and gilt rosemary. Edmund Spenser, Past.

   4. In heraldry.The chief is so called of the French word chef, the head or upper part: this possesses the upper third part of the escutcheon. Henry Peacham on Drawing.

Webster Dictionary(3.50 / 2 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Chiefnoun

   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

2. Chiefnoun

   the principal part; the most valuable portion

3. Chiefnoun

   the upper third part of the field. It is supposed to be composed of the dexter, sinister, and middle chiefs

4. Chiefadjective

   highest in office or rank; principal; head

5. Chiefadjective

   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

6. Chiefadjective

   very intimate, near, or close

Freebase(1.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. Chief

   The Chief was one of the named passenger trains of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. Its route ran from Chicago, Illinois to Los Angeles, California. The Chief was inaugurated as an all-Pullman limited train to supplement the road's California Limited, with a surcharge of USD $10.00 for an end-to-end trip. The heavyweight began its first run from both ends of the line, simultaneously, on November 14, 1926, scheduled 63 hours each way between Chicago and Los Angeles, five hours faster than the California Limited. The Chief was a success, dubbed "Extra Fast-Extra Fine-Extra Fare" though it failed to relieve traffic on the California Limited. The Chief became famous as a "rolling boudoir" for film stars and Hollywood executives. In 1954 the Chief reduced its schedule to equal its cousins, the Super Chief and El Capitan, and would ultimately drop the extra fare requirement as well. The Chief would have been the "crown jewel" of most railroads' passenger fleets. But it did not survive the national decline in passenger demand and its last run was on May 15, 1968.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Chief

   chēf, adj. head: principal, highest, first: (Scot.) intimate.—adv. chiefly.—n. a head or principal person: a leader: the principal part or top of anything: (her.) an ordinary, consisting of the upper part of the field cut off by a horizontal line, generally made to occupy one-third of the area of the shield.—ns. Chief′-bar′on, the President of the Court of Exchequer; Chief′dom, Chief′ship, state of being chief: sovereignty; Chief′ery, an Irish chieftaincy: the dues paid to a chief; Chief′ess, a female chief; Chief′-jus′tice (see Justice).—adj. Chief′less, without a chief or leader.—adv. Chief′ly, in the first place: principally: for the most part.—ns. Chief′ry, a rent paid to the supreme lord: a chief's lands; Chief′tain, the head of a clan: a leader or commander:—fem. Chief′tainess; Chief′taincy, Chief′tainship; Chief′tainry.—In chief (her.) means that the charge is borne in the upper part of the shield: applied to holding land directly from the sovereign: at the head, as commander-in-chief. [Fr. chef—L. caput, the head.]

The Nuttall Encyclopedia(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Chief

   the upper part of an escutcheon cut off by a horizontal line.

Dictionary of Nautical Terms(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. chief

   See COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF. A common abbreviation.

Military Dictionary and Gazetteer(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. chief

   The head or leader of any band or community; a commander.

2. chief

   In heraldry, an ordinary formed by a horizontal line occupying the upper part of the escutcheon. Any object borne in the upper or chief part of the shield is said to be in chief, though the chief be not divided off from the rest of the field as a separate portion.

Suggested Resources(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. chief

   Song lyrics by chief -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by chief on the Lyrics.com website.

Matched Categories

1. • Leader
   • Supervisor

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'chief' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #1369

2. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'chief' in Written Corpus Frequency: #1977

3. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'chief' in Nouns Frequency: #975

4. Adjectives Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'chief' in Adjectives Frequency: #163

Anagrams for chief »

1. fiche

How to pronounce chief?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say chief in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of chief in Chaldean Numerology is: 4

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of chief in Pythagorean Numerology is: 4

Examples of chief in a Sentence

1. Steve Schmidt:

   Every winning nominee and every winning presidential candidate walks many lonely miles through the valley of the shadow of political death -- and resiliency is the chief virtue required for victory, john McCain understood that, as did Barack Obama -- while going through the Rev. (Jeremiah) Wright debacle -- as did George W. Bush, after losing to John McCain in New Hampshire in 2000, and there are many other examples.

2. Rajitha Senaratne:

   The army chief got orders to deploy the troops on the ground across the country. They tried attempts to continue by force. The army chief defied all the orders he got in the last hours, we spoke to the army chief and told him not to do this. He kept the troops in the barracks and helped a free and fair election.

3. Fisher Ames:

   ...[O]ur sages in the great [constitutional] convention... intended our government should be a republic which differs more widely from a democracy than a democracy from a despotism. The rigours of a despotism often... oppress only a few, but it is the very essence and nature of a democracy, for a faction claiming to oppress a minority, and that minority the chief owners of the property and truest lovers of their country.

4. Michael McCaul:

   Russia President Vladimir knows that if Russia President Vladimir's ever going to invade Ukraine, now is the time. I hope Russia President Vladimir doesn't make that miscalculation. But the fact is, if Russia President Vladimir does invade Ukraine, what is the United States, what is our commander-in-chief prepared to do to stop it ?

5. Lauren Boebert:

   Im not walking around with security. I am the security, soIll carry in my office. I know that its OKfor members to carry there and I am going to set up a meeting with the Capitol [ Police ] chief andtalk to Capitol Police about further options to carry.... If there arent enough provisions there to make sure that I feel like Im safe and not disarmed, then I may try tomake some amendments to the rules inCongress. RIFLE, CO - MAY 29 : Lauren Boebert, owner of Shooters Grill, has gained national attention for her decision to encourage her staff to carry a firearm during work on May 29, 2018 in Rifle, Colorado. ( Photo by RJ Sangosti/The Denver Post via Getty Images) Shes concerned she may be a.

Popularity rank by frequency of use