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chief

noun
/t͡ʃiːf/

Etymology

From Middle English cheef, chef, from Old French chef, chief (“leader”), from Vulgar Latin capus, from Latin caput (“head”) (from which also captain, chieftain), from Proto-Italic *kaput, from Proto-Indo-European *káput. Doublet of cape (“point of land”), capo, caput, and chef through Latin (possibly also related to cape (“sleeveless garment”) and cap (“head covering”) from Latin cappa); doublet of head and Howth through Proto-Indo-European.

  1. derived from *káput✻
  2. derived from *kaput✻
  3. derived from caput — “head”
  4. derived from capus
  5. derived from chef
  6. inherited from cheef

Definitions

  1. The leader or head of a tribe, organisation, business unit, or other group.

    • My father, Gadla Henry Mphakanyiswa, was a chief by both blood and custom.
    • All firefighters report to the fire chief.

  2. Headship, the status of being a chief or leader.

    • Bob is our troubleshooter in chief.

  3. The top part of a shield or escutcheon

    The top part of a shield or escutcheon; more specifically, an ordinary consisting of the upper part of the field cut off by a horizontal line, generally occupying the top third.

    • When the Chief is Charged with any figure, in blazon it is said to be "On a Chief".
  4. ›+ 6 more definitions

    1. The principal part or top of anything.

    2. An informal term of address.

      • “How old are you, chief?” the elevator guy said.

    3. Primary

      Primary; principal.

      • Negligence was the chief cause of the disaster.
      • Researchers found that one of the chief effects of drinking was to reduce people's ability to monitor their own behavior.

    4. Intimate, friendly.

    5. To smoke cannabis.

    6. A township in Mahnomen County, Minnesota, United States.

The neighborhood

Derived

archchief, arch-chief, band chief, base chief, big white chief, case-in-chief, case in chief, champion-in-chief, champion in chief, chiefdom, chiefery, chiefess, chief hare, chiefhood, chiefie, chiefless, chiefling, chiefly, chief of party, chief of police, chief of staff, chief of state, chief rent, chiefry, chiefship, chieftess, cochief, commander in chief, commander-in-chief, condoled chief, crew chief, dexter chief, editor in chief, editor-in-chief, examination-in-chief, fire chief, in chief, overchief, paramount chief, per chief · +52 more

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at chief. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01chief02tribe03clan04defined05low06compare07assess08impose09chiefly

A definitional loop anchored at chief. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

9 hops · closes at chief

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA