Online dictionaryOnline dictionary
Synonyms, antonyms, pronunciation

  Home
English Dictionary      examples: 'day', 'get rid of', 'New York Bay'




Commander in chief   /kəmˈændər ɪn tʃif/   Listen
Commander in chief

noun
1.
The officer who holds the supreme command.  Synonym: generalissimo.






WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University








Advanced search
     Find words:
Starting with
Ending with
Containing
Matching a pattern  

Synonyms
Antonyms
Quotes
Words linked to  

only single words



Share |
Add this dictionary
to your browser search bar





"Commander in chief" Quotes from Famous Books



... Persons, Natives of the South Parts of the Island. The Prince de Heymuthius and the E. of Dolphinus, their Characters may be confin'd to this: In short, the first commanded all the Armies of Atalantis Major, and was Captain General and Commander in Chief; the other, High Keeper of the Treasury of the Island, the greatest General and the greatest Minister of State the Island ever knew, who had raised the Glory of their Mistress, and the Honour of their Country, to the greatest ...
— Atalantis Major • Daniel Defoe

... keeping alive the attention of the reader or hearer without satiety or weariness. For this purpose, and to answer to his conception of a great poem, Homer appears to have thought it necessary that the action should be one; and he therefore took the incidental quarrel of Achilles and the commander in chief, the resentment of Achilles, and his consequent defection from the cause, till, by the death of Patroclus, and then of Hector, all traces of the misunderstanding first, and then of its consequences, should be ...
— Thoughts on Man - His Nature, Productions and Discoveries, Interspersed with - Some Particulars Respecting the Author • William Godwin

... in the field with all the exposures of camp life was entirely out of the question but, desirous of rendering such services as he could, he wrote the following letter to Major General Henry W. Halleck, Commander in Chief of ...
— As I Remember - Recollections of American Society during the Nineteenth Century • Marian Gouverneur

... carry on the rebellion, had, by some means or other, received from abroad, no less than the sum of one hundred thousand pounds sterling, together with letters and instructions under the Pretender's own hand, and a commission appointing him Lieutenant-General and Commander in Chief of his forces, as he called them, in Scotland: And fearing lest his traitorous designs against his lawful sovereign prince,[50] to whom he had so early and solemnly promised fidelity, might possibly be discovered, and he himself secured by the government, ...
— The Jacobite Rebellions (1689-1746) - (Bell's Scottish History Source Books.) • James Pringle Thomson

... of inquiry was reached, after twenty-three days of continuous labor, on the 21st of March instant, and, having been approved on the 22d by the commander in chief of the United States naval force on the North Atlantic station, was transmitted to ...
— Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents • William McKinley

... member of Congress, was by no means conspicuous in the agitation which preceded the actual outbreak of hostilities. His entry in his uniform among his civilian comrades was indeed dramatic; but his important public career really began with his acceptance of the position of commander in chief. In this capacity he achieved the overthrow of the British supremacy, and brought to a successful close the period ...
— Benjamin Franklin • John Torrey Morse, Jr.

... of assault, when the whole of his men and elephants moved forwards with horrible cries and a prodigious noise of warlike instruments. The Portuguese were drawn up in their several posts to defend the ruined works, and Don Francisco Mascarenhas, the commander in chief[380], placed himself opposite the Nizam with a body of reserve to relieve the posts wherever he might see necessary. The day was darkened with smoke, and alternately lighted up with flames. The slaughter and confusion was great on both sides. Some of the colours of the enemy were ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume VI - Early English Voyages Of Discovery To America • Robert Kerr

... Yaguzhinski, who long held one of the most important posts in the State, was the son of a poor sacristan; Count Devier was a Portuguese by birth, and had been a cabin-boy; Baron Shafirof was a Jew; Hannibal, who died with the rank of Commander in Chief, was a negro who had been bought in Constantinople; and his Serene Highness Prince Menshikof had begun life, it was said, as a baker's apprentice! For the future, noble birth was to count for nothing. The service of the State was thrown open ...
— Russia • Donald Mackenzie Wallace

... this opinion of the Board of Trade, expressed in the foregoing recital, we further beg leave to refer your Lordships to the opinion of the Commander in Chief of his Majesty's forces in North America, who, in a letter laid before us by the Earl of Hillsborough, delivers his sentiments with regard to the settlements in the interior parts of America in the following ...
— Report of the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations on the Petition of the Honourable Thomas Walpole, Benjamin Franklin, John Sargent, and Samuel Wharton, Esquires, and their Associates • Great Britain Board of Trade

... cried Conrad, "have lugged the commander in chief of the cutpurses by the throat, that sapient soothsayer that was playing off his pranks with his match the ...
— The Old Man of the Mountain, The Lovecharm and Pietro of Abano - Tales from the German of Tieck • Ludwig Tieck

... no doubt that religious intolerance was not a part of Washington's character. In 1775, when the New England troops intended to celebrate Guy Fawkes day, as usual, the General Orders declared that "as the Commander in chief has been apprised of a design, formed for the observance of that ridiculous and childish custom of burning the effigy of the Pope, he cannot help expressing his surprise, that there should be officers and soldiers in this ...
— The True George Washington [10th Ed.] • Paul Leicester Ford

... summoned. He is called Right Honourable, and he walks out of a room before Esquires and Knights. And can we seriously believe that men who think it monstrous that this honorary distinction should be given to three Roman Catholics, do sincerely desire to maintain a law by which a Roman Catholic may be Commander in Chief with all the military patronage, First Lord of the Admiralty with all the naval patronage, or First Lord of the Treasury, with the chief influence in every department of the Government. I must therefore suppose that those who join in the ...
— The Miscellaneous Writings and Speeches of Lord Macaulay, Vol. 4 (of 4) - Lord Macaulay's Speeches • Thomas Babington Macaulay

... word "imperator," that the diction in the Annals is not that of Tacitus. Having lived in the time of the Caesars, he never could have heard a countryman in speech or writing use "Imperator" other than as signifying one individual, not the commander in chief of the army, but the occupant of the supreme civil authority, "Imperator" being the noun proper of "imperium." In this restricted sense Tacitus always uses the word, because it was understood with that signification by every Roman of his time. For example, in his Agricola (39), ...
— Tacitus and Bracciolini - The Annals Forged in the XVth Century • John Wilson Ross

... at her bidding, and the two held an earnest and long talk together. Meantime, Cap'n Bill had the army assembled in the Court of the Statues, where Queen Mayre appeared and told the Pinkies that the sailorman was to be Commander in Chief of the Expedition and all must obey his commands. Then Cap'n Bill addressed the army and told them what the Fog Bank was like. He advised them all to wear their raincoats over their pretty pink clothes so they would not get wet, and he assured them ...
— Sky Island - Being the further exciting adventures of Trot and Cap'n - Bill after their visit to the sea fairies • L. Frank Baum

... McClellan, that we forget for the moment that I am the Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy—and we have a little heart to heart talk in a ...
— A Man of the People - A Drama of Abraham Lincoln • Thomas Dixon

... ably assisted in his endeavours to procure the rarest and the best of every species, both in plant and seed, by Mr. Mason, the king's botanist, whom we were so fortunate as to meet with here, as well as by Colonel Gordon, the commander in chief of the troops at this place; a gentleman whose thirst for natural knowledge amply qualified him to be of service to us, not only in procuring a great variety of the best seeds and plants, but in pointing out the culture, ...
— An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales, Vol. 1 • David Collins

... experience and reputation. He was surgeon in the British hospital during the French War, and afterward practiced medicine in New Brunswick. During the Revolution, he became an army surgeon. He was a friend of Washington, and, in fact, was quite intimate with the commander in chief of the American forces. It is said that when Washington was at West Point in 1779, and the doctor and his family were stationed at the same place, Washington wrote to Dr. Cochran almost the only facetious letter which is known ...
— Stories of New Jersey • Frank Richard Stockton

... then drove out to Holland House, and found the gay Lothario Nesbitt flirting with the young ladies. He observed him attentively, and having tried an experiment, calculated to throw light on the mysterious foreigner, he went to complain direct to the Governor and Commander in Chief; Lord Dorchester, who, on hearing the perplexity caused by Mr. Nesbitt, sent for Dr. Longmore, the military physician, and ordered him to investigate of what sex Nesbitt ...
— Picturesque Quebec • James MacPherson Le Moine

... favored with your's by Saturday's post and have since layed it before His Excellency the Commander in Chief, and I have the Pleasure to inform you that he approves much of your Conduct and feels himself obliged for your very humane Interposition to rescue the poor unfortunate Sarah Cole from the Clutches of the miscreant Campbell; and I ...
— The Journal of Negro History, Volume 5, 1920 • Various

... for the defence and welfare of the United States, or any of them, nor emit bills, nor borrow money on the credit of the United States, nor appropriate money, nor agree upon the number of vessels of war, to be built or purchased, or the number of land or sea forces to be raised, nor appoint a commander in chief of the army or navy, unless nine States assent to the same: nor shall a question on any other point, except for adjourning from day to day be determined, unless by the votes of a majority of the United States ...
— The Fathers of the Constitution - Volume 13 in The Chronicles Of America Series • Max Farrand

... made of the appointing power to bring under its control the whole revenues of the country. The Constitution has declared it to be the duty of the President to see that the laws are executed, and it makes him the Commander in Chief of the Armies and Navy of the United States. If the opinion of the most approved writers upon that species of mixed government which in modern Europe is termed monarchy in contradistinction to despotism is correct, there was wanting no other ...
— Messages and Papers of the Presidents: Harrison • James D. Richardson

... the most natural and inevitable way with the Poles, of whose national culture Germanism is the sworn foe. The well-known manifesto of the Commander in Chief did not awake this feeling among the Poles of Russia, but simply met it and gave it support. Equally natural and elemental was the patriotic outburst that spread among the Jews of Russia. In their case the political and social Radicalism ...
— The New York Times Current History: the European War, February, 1915 • Various

... from the south. Now, simultaneously with the reports from my scouts that a large Han land force was working its way down on us from the north, and threatening to outflank us, came word from Jim Hallwell, Big Boss of the Colorado Union and the commander in chief of our army, that another large Han force was to the southwest of our western flank. And in addition, it seemed, most of the Han military forces at Lo-Tan had been moved out of the city and advanced toward our lines ...
— The Airlords of Han • Philip Francis Nowlan

... President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject ...
— The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government • Jefferson Davis

... means,—I remember too well the expeditions to Toulon, to Quiberon, to Corsica, and to Holland, the responsibility for each of which the Noble Lord took on himself, entirely releasing from any responsibility the Commander in Chief and the Secretary at War. I also remember that, which, although so glorious to our arms in the result, I still shall call a most unwarrantable project.—the expedition to Egypt. It may be said, that as the Noble Lord was so unfit for the military department, ...
— Memoirs of the Life of Rt. Hon. Richard Brinsley Sheridan Vol 2 • Thomas Moore

... interest any one until the beginning of the immigration of the forties. The subject of slavery in California was officially called to the attention of the inhabitants through the issuance of a proclamation by the Commander in Chief of the District in regard to the unlawful enslaving of the Indians. He was endeavoring to protect them, but they were enslaved[24] in spite of his efforts. The legislature undertook to perpetuate this system by enacting a law permitting the enslavement of ...
— The Journal of Negro History, Volume 3, 1918 • Various

... more universal a form does it cause. Thirdly, that the more remote an end is, the more universal the agent to which it corresponds; thus victory, which is the last end of the army, is the end intended by the commander in chief; while the right ordering of this or that regiment is the end intended by one of the lower officers. From all this it follows that the specific difference derived from the end, is more general; and that the difference ...
— Summa Theologica, Part I-II (Pars Prima Secundae) - From the Complete American Edition • Saint Thomas Aquinas

... Act under which the country could raise 10,000,000 troops, if 10,000,000 troops were needed, without deranging its essential industries. It had taken Mr. Lincoln three years to find a General whom he could intrust with the command of the Union armies. Mr. Wilson picked his Commander in Chief before he went to war and then gave to Gen. Pershing the same kind of ungrudging support that Mr. Lincoln gave to Gen. Grant. The Civil War had been financed by greenbacks and bond issues peddled by bankers. Mr. Wilson called on the American people to finance their own war, and they unhesitatingly ...
— Woodrow Wilson's Administration and Achievements • Frank B. Lord and James William Bryan

... branch was lost, and did not revive unless the branch preferred died out or possessed no member qualified to rule. When a king had been duly nominated by the two councils, the right of placing the diadem upon his head belonged to the Surena, the "Field-Marshal," or "Commander in Chief of the Parthian armies." The Megistanes further claimed and sometimes exercised the right of deposing a monarch whose conduct displeased them; but an attempt to exercise this privilege was sure to be followed by a civil war, no monarch accepting his deposition without a struggle; and force, not right, ...
— The Seven Great Monarchies Of The Ancient Eastern World, Vol 6. (of 7): Parthia • George Rawlinson

... had the smallest piece of artillery, and but a shabby display of cavalry mounted on lean asses, General Potter consoled himself that a victory could be gained without any great display of generalship: in short that, being commander in chief, it was only necessary for him to retire to a safe distance, where, like the famous Persian warrior, he could look serenely on while the armies battered each ...
— The Life and Adventures of Maj. Roger Sherman Potter • "Pheleg Van Trusedale"

... "Listen! here is something in the papers that will greatly interest you, or I am much mistaken." Edith was soon at his side, all attention, when the gentleman proceeded to read as follows:—"Extract from general orders. His Excellency the Commander in Chief has been pleased to appoint Lieutenant Arthur Carlton, H.M. Light Dragoons, to act as A.D.C. on the staff of General D——, at Goolampore. That officer will proceed and assume his duties at that station forthwith." Edith could not conceal her joy at this ...
— Vellenaux - A Novel • Edmund William Forrest

... of them fell into the hands of the rebels, the freedom of the other might tend to secure their mutual safety. To preserve the principles of the royal stripling, the King parted with several of his most faithful advisers. He constituted Lord Hopton commander in chief of the western district, but by fixing him more peculiarly about the person of his son, he unhappily gave too much power to the subaltern generals, among whom the apple of discord seemed to have been thrown, for they agreed in nothing but ...
— The Loyalists, Vol. 1-3 - An Historical Novel • Jane West

... accompanied by a still smaller vessel, or tender, to carry provisions. Of these vessels, one was commanded by Bartholomew Diaz, as commodore, the second caravel by Juan Infante, another cavalier or gentleman of the court, and Pedro Diaz, brother to the commander in chief of the expedition, had charge of the tender. The preparations being completed, Bartholomew sailed in the end of August 1486, steering directly to ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. II • Robert Kerr

... Hall. In the meantime they were villainously used and ill-treated by the pirates, besides very hardly worked, so that they sometimes staggered and fell down from the weights they had to carry. Our indignation was great, and, like an impatient army as we were, we implored the commander in chief to give the word of march. We longed to hear him say "Up, guards, and at them." But that very evening surely we saw the white sign. It was true, indeed; how pleased we were. And then the delightful hope that they must be English was nearly confirmed, ...
— Yr Ynys Unyg - The Lonely Island • Julia de Winton

... pigmy was not altogether on parade. He had that morning been receiving arsenals and fortresses from the French; in short, the keys of the Empire. For he was Commander in Chief of the Imperial armies, was this species of manikin. And ugly? He was a man of lifted upper lip under a bristling moustache, a man of fangs, a wee, snarling, strutting, odious creature of a man. A deep livid scar split his cheek and would not heal. Instead ...
— The Missourian • Eugene P. (Eugene Percy) Lyle

... in and out of Rome, equal in numbers to a nation. In the provinces, and in distant kingdoms, he pursued the same schemes. Every where he had a body of mercenary partisans; kings are known to have taken his pay. And it is remarkable that even in his character of commander in chief, where the number of legions allowed to him for the accomplishment of his mission raised him for a number of years above all fear of coercion or control, he persevered steadily in the same plan of providing for the day when he might need assistance, not from the state, but against ...
— The Caesars • Thomas de Quincey

... meeting, with great pleasure that Lord Roberts had become the Honorary Commander in Chief of the Canadian Army, and that in a few days he was coming to review us, as was also His Majesty the King and Lord Kitchener. We worked very hard to get into shape for these important events. In the meantime the Minister of Militia from Canada arrived and visited ...
— The Red Watch - With the First Canadian Division in Flanders • J. A. Currie

... military position,—much higher, in fact, than he could ever have obtained in his own country,—but it did not satisfy him. The position he wanted was that of commander in chief of the American army; and he was surprised and angry that it was not offered to him, and that a man of his ability should be passed over, and that high place given to a person like George Washington, who knew but ...
— The Junior Classics • Various

... LORDSHIP had previously entertained a strong presentiment that this would prove the auspicious day; and had several times said to Captain HARDY and Doctor SCOTT (Chaplain of the ship, and Foreign Secretary to the Commander in Chief, whose intimate friendship he enjoyed), "The 21st of October will ...
— The Death of Lord Nelson • William Beatty

... commander in chief of the army and naval forces of the State. He has revision of all bills passed by the General Assembly, and, a two-thirds majority in each house is necessary to pass a bill over his disapproval. The Governor can commute sentences, and grant pardons to criminals, except in cases of treason or impeachment. ...
— Elements of Civil Government • Alexander L. Peterman

... Storm" in one half hour, and an "Apostrophe to the Rooster in the Waist of the Ship" in the next, the transition was considered to be rather abrupt; but when he sends an invoice of rhymes to the Governor of Fayal and another to the commander in chief and other dignitaries in Gibraltar with the compliments of the Laureate of the Ship, it is not popular with ...
— Innocents abroad • Mark Twain

... attribute to fear. Yet something is due to decency; and the best apology for Lesly, is his zeal for propagating presbyterianism in England, the bait which had caught the whole parliament of Scotland. But, although the Earl of Leven was commander in chief, David Lesly, a yet more renowned and active soldier than himself, was major-general of the cavalry, and, in truth, bore away the laurels ...
— Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, Vol. II (of 3) • Walter Scott

... fact, that he, commander In chief, in proper person deigned to drill The awkward squad, and could afford to squander His time, a corporal's duty to fulfil; Just as you'd break a sucking salamander To swallow flame, and never take it ill:[hr] He showed them how to mount a ladder (which Was not like ...
— The Works of Lord Byron, Volume 6 • Lord Byron

... the town; many also must have died of their wounds: 'tis thought that between fifty and sixty of the Military fell: 'twas too many, but we could hardly expect such a victory on more reasonable terms. B. B. Harvey was commander in chief of the Rebels; but for his bad generalship on that day was deposed, and the command ...
— An Impartial Narrative of the Most Important Engagements Which Took Place Between His Majesty's Forces and the Rebels, During the Irish Rebellion, 1798. • John Jones

... the appointment of a regency to govern until the accession of Ferdinand VII, or some other personage, to the imperial throne. Of this body Iturbide assumed the presidency, which carried with it the powers of commander in chief and a salary of 120,000 pesos, paid from the day on which the Plan of Iguala was signed. O'Donoju contented himself with membership on the board and a salary of one-twelfth that amount, until his speedy demise removed from the scene the last of the Spanish viceroys ...
— The Hispanic Nations of the New World - Volume 50 in The Chronicles Of America Series • William R. Shepherd

... any resistance, which, had he been inclined to make, he must have plainly perceived would have been ineffectual, as the bailiff appeared to have several followers at hand, two of whom, beside the commander in chief, mounted with him into the coach. As Booth was a sweet-tempered man, as well as somewhat of a philosopher, he behaved with all the good-humour imaginable, and indeed, with more than his companions; who, however, shewed him what they call civility, that is, they neither struck ...
— Amelia (Complete) • Henry Fielding

... properties at stake, and amazing success crowned their endeavours. Out of eight hundred men who came against this little colony, near three hundred were killed and taken prisoners; among the latter were Mons. Arbuset, their commander in chief by land, with several sea officers, who together offered ten thousand pieces of eight for their ransom. On the other hand, the loss sustained by the provincial militia was incredibly small. The Governor publicly thanked them for the unanimity and courage ...
— An Historical Account Of The Rise And Progress Of The Colonies Of South Carolina And Georgia, Volume 1 • Alexander Hewatt

... of state: Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952) elections: none; the monarch is hereditary; lieutenant governor and bailiff appointed by the monarch head of government: Lieutenant Governor and Commander in Chief Air Chief Marshall Sir John CHESHIRE (since 24 January 2001) and Bailiff Philip Martin BAILHACHE (since NA February 1995) cabinet: committees appointed by the Assembly of ...
— The 2003 CIA World Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency

... pumped. On the 14th, the door of my laboratory was literally broken in by the Russian General, Count Trollohub, who had been sent from headquarters. This distinguished officer had run in all haste to prevent the execution of the colonel and to conduct him into the presence of the Commander in Chief. I loyally confessed to him what I had done under the inspiration of my conscience; I showed him the body through one of the bull's-eyes of the air-pump; I told him that I was happy to have preserved a man who could furnish ...
— The Man With The Broken Ear • Edmond About

... administrative and supply services, except the Adjutant General's, Inspector General's and Judge Advocate General's Departments which remain at general headquarters, have been transferred to the headquarters of the services of supplies at Tours under a commanding general responsible to the commander in chief for supply of the armies. The Chief Quartermaster, Chief Surgeon, Chief Signal Officer, Chief of Ordnance, Chief of Air Service, Chief of Chemical Warfare, the general purchasing agent in all that pertains to questions of procurement and supply, the Provost Marshal General ...
— World's War Events, Volume III • Various

... Secretary of the Admiralty had been very short, and written in great haste,—being desirous that his Majesty's Ministers should be made acquainted with the important arrangements agreed upon, as early as possible,—I considered it right to make a more detailed report to the Commander in Chief; and therefore wrote a despatch to Lord Keith, of which the following are extracts, intending to send it by the officer who should announce to him the Bellerophon's arrival ...
— The Surrender of Napoleon • Sir Frederick Lewis Maitland

... excited Italians, there was no tremor of voice or limb. It was just the chance he was looking for; he was in his element; he was having the best time he had had since leaving America. In the uniform of an officer of the American army he spoke in criticism of the Commander in Chief of that army, the President of the ...
— Chit-Chat; Nirvana; The Searchlight • Mathew Joseph Holt



Words linked to "Commander in chief" :   commanding officer, commander, commandant



Copyright © 2024 Dictionary One.com