commander
(kəˈmɑːndə(r), -æ-)
Forms: 3–5 comander, -our, -ur, 4 comaundour, 4–6 commaundour, 6–7 -er, (5 com(m)awndour), 6– commander.
[a. OF. comandere (= Pr. comandaire):—L. type commanˈdātor, oblique case comandeor (= Pr. comandador), Anglo-F. -dour, mod.F. -deur:—L. type commandātor-em (commend-), agent-n. f. commandāre: see command v. and -er. Commendātor was in some military and religious orders of the Middle Ages, e.g. that of the Knights of St. John, the title of the officer in charge of a commenda: see commandery. In this sense Littré has OF. comandeor in 13th c.]
1. One who commands. a. One who commands or orders anything.
| c 1386 Chaucer Man of Law's T. 397 Soothly the Comandour of that was he [God]. 1395 Purvey Remonstr. (1851) 49 If that that the emperour comaundith is good, fille thou the wil of the comaundour. 1531 Dial. on Laws Eng. i. ix. (1638) 19 If a man command another to do a trespasse..the commander is a trespasser. a 1617 Hieron Wks. (1619–20) II. 484 Hee doth it..more for the Commanders sake..then out of any other respect whatsoeuer. |
b. One who has the control or disposal of anything.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 12109 (Cott.) Ihesus þe maister gaf ansuare, þou þat es comandur o lai. c 1585 Faire Em iii. 650 She That's mistress and commander of his thoughts. 1607 Fletcher Woman-Hater iii. i, Were we not made ourselves, free, unconfined, Commanders of our own affections? 1666 Fuller Hist. Camb. (1840) 222 A great commander of the Latin tongue. |
c. One who exercises authority, a ruler or leader. Commander of the Faithful (cf. admiral): a title of the caliphs, first assumed (c 640) by Omar I.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 453 (Cott.) He [Lucifer] wald..be him self þair comandur [v.r. -our]. 1382 Wyclif Luke v. 5 Comaundour, we trauelinge by al the nyȝt token no thing. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 88 Commawndour, preceptor, mandator. 1588 Shakes. Tit. A. i. ii. 247 King and Commander of our Common-weale. 1592 ― Ven. & Ad. 1004 Be wreak'd on him, invisible commander [Death]. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. iii. xlii. 269 The Apostles.. are our Schoolemasters, and not our Commanders. 1840 Penny Cycl. XVI. 434/2 Omar..was also the first who assumed the title of Am{iacu}r-al-m{uacu}men{iacu}n (commander of the faithful) instead of that of Khalifah-rasuli-llahi (vicar of the messenger of God) which his predecessor Ab{uacu} Bekr had used. |
2. spec. a. The officer in command of a military force.
| 1598 Barret Theor. Warres iii. i. 31 Braue Commaunders vnder whom I have serued. 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, iv. i. 97 Williams. Vnder what Captaine serue you? King. Vnder Sir Iohn Erpingham. Williams. A good old Commander. 1643 Ld. Capel (title), Address to all Commanders, Officers, and Soldiers. 1757 Johnson Rambler No. 146 ¶5 Not only the writer of books, but the commander of armies..will easily outlive all noisy and popular reputation. 1859 Thackeray Virgin. x, Two thousand veteran British troops with their commander. 1875 Bedford Sailor's Pocket-bk. i. (ed. 2) 22 The term Commander of Column indicates the Senior Officer in that Column. |
b. One who has command of a ship; in the British and U.S. navies, the title of an officer who ranks below a captain and above a first lieutenant.
| c 1450 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 579/45 Egeator, a comander of a shyp. 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. iv. 202 Any ingenious Sea-Artist, that..hath been Commander or Mate many years. 1708 Roy. Proclam. 26 June in Lond. Gaz. No. 4452 The Commanders of the Men of War appointed Convoys for Newfoundland. 1804 G. Rose Diaries (1860) II. 194 Captain Prescott, a commander in the navy. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 203 Commander, an officer in the royal navy, commanding a ship of war under twenty guns, a sloop of war, armed ship, or bomb-vessel. He was entitled master and commander, and ranked with a major of the army: now simply termed commander, and ranking with lieutenant-colonel, but junior of that rank. |
3. In a mediæval religious order, esp. a military order, as the Knights Hospitallers: The administrator of a commandery, a commendatory.
| 1611 Cotgr. s.v. Commanderie, A Commaunder (of one of the Orders). 1641 Termes de la Ley 65 s.v. Commaundrie, He which had the government of any such Mannor or house, was called the Commander, which had nothing to doe to dispose of it, but to the use of the Priorie, and to have onely his sustenance of it according to his degree. 1751 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Commandry, The simple commanders of Malta..are rather farmers of the order than beneficiaries. 1819 Scott Ivanhoe xxxv. note, The principal Knights of Saint John were termed Commanders. 1858 W. Porter Hist. Knts. Malta I. ii. (L., s.v. Commandery), The council reserved to themselves the power of at any time recalling a commander from his post. 1867 Murray's Handbk. Worcester, etc. 98 The Commander's house, and great hall, are the only existing portions [of the Commandry]. |
4. Hence, a member of a higher class in certain modern Orders of Knighthood, in the French Legion of Honour, etc.; also, an officer in certain secret ‘orders’, as in the American order of ‘Knights Templars’.
In British Orders (e.g. of the Bath since 1815, of St. Michael and St. George, and of the Star of India) the Knight Commanders form the second of the three grades. A Grand Commander is a member of one of the divisions of the highest grade. In the Legion of Honour, Commandeurs form the third of the five classes.
| 1846 Penny Cycl., 1st Suppl. II. 193/2 Legion of Honour, instituted by Napoleon during the year 1802..consists of five divisions: chevaliers, officers, commanders, grand officers, and grand crosses. 1882 Cussans Heraldry 248 At the termination of the War [1815]..it was decided to divide the Order of the Bath into three Grades, entitled Knights Grand Cross (G.C.B.), Knights Commanders (K.C.B.), and Knights Companions (C.B.). 1886 Whitaker's Almanack 88 [Order of the Bath] Second Class, K.C.B. Military Knights Commanders..Civil Knights Commanders. Ibid. 93 The Most Exalted Order of the Star of India..Principal Knight Grand Commander, Viceroy and Gov. Gen. of India. |
5. A large wooden mallet or beetle; a rammer (see command v. 6 c).
| 1573 Baret Alv. C. 907 (1580) An instrument to driue piles of woodde into the ground, called..a commaunder, also to beate stones in pauing, a rammer. 1679 Moxon Mech. Exerc. vii. 128 The Commander..with a handle about three foot long. 1726 R. Neve Builder's Dict. s.v. Foundation, These piles must be drove or forced down by a Commander. 1863 Reade Hard Cash I. 198 His gang of fifteen..stood in line with huge wooden beetles called commanders. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 203 Commander, a large wooden mallet used specially in the sail and rigging lofts, as anything of metal would injure the ropes or canvas. |
† 6. Fortif. A work raised so as to command the adjacent works and country round; a cavalier. Obs.
| 1599 Hakluyt Voy. II. 122 Two commanders, or caualiers. Ibid. II. 126 Whole Buts of water..were throwen downe from an high Commander. |
† 7. Surg. A machine for reducing dislocations; = ambe. Obs.
| 1676 Wiseman Chirurg. Treat. vii. v. 488 The Glossocomium, commonly called the Commander. 1711 Lond. Gaz. No. 4878/4 This [reduction of fractures] is not effected by the Ambe or Commander. 1783 P. Pott Chirurg. Wks. II. 300 That sort of Ambi which Mr. Freke called his Commander. |
8. a. Hat-making. (See quots.)
| 1874 Knight Dict. Mech. s.v. 1875 Ure Dict. Arts II. 857 This flat crown is now placed upon a block, and, by pressing a string called a commander, down the sides of the block, he forces the parts adjacent to the crown to assume a cylindrical figure. |
b. Basketry. A straight iron shank joining two rings, used for straightening thick sticks.
| 1912 T. Okey Basket-making iii. 12 The full kit..consists of..a commander [etc.]. 1941 Archit. Rev. LXXXIX. 54 (caption) Commander. |
9. Ornith. The Red-winged Oriole (Oriolus Phœniceus).
| 1812 Smellie, etc. tr. Buffon's Nat. Hist. XIII. 219 It is called Commander on account of a fine red mark on..its wings, which..resembles the badge of the order of knighthood. |
10. Commander-in-chief. a. The chief or supreme commander of all the military land forces of a State; also b. of a detached portion permanently quartered in a colony, or c. on expeditionary service in a hostile foreign country.
In nearly all the British Colonies, the Governor was Commander-in-Chief, even though a civilian.
| 1654 H. L'Estrange Chas. I (1655) 188 Lord Conway then Commander in chief. 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. i. iv. §10 Such Commanders in Chief do not fall without Common Souldiers about them. 1790 Beatson Nav. & Mil. Mem. II. 218 Want of success in the last campaign had raised a great clamour against the commander-in-chief. 1829 W. Irving Conq. Granada (1850) 343 The commander-in-chief of the artillery. 1844 H. H. Wilson Brit. India I. i. ii. 127 The new Commander-in-chief at Madras, Sir John Cradock. 1887 Lond. Gaz. 29 Nov., The Queen has been pleased, by Letters Patent..to appoint Field-Marshal His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge, K.G., to be Commander-in-Chief of Her Majesty's Forces. 1887 Army List Nov. 27 Bermuda, Governor and Commander-in-Chief, Gallwey, Lt.-Genl. T.L., R. Eng. |
d. In U.S. vested in the President.
But the title is often unofficially applied to the acting general officer of highest rank (i.e. the senior major-general).
| 1778 (title), Proceedings of a Court Martial held..by order of His Excellency General Washington, Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the United States of America, for the Trial of Major General Lee. 1789 Constit. U.S. Art. ii. §2 The president shall be commander-in-chief of the army and navy. 1843 Penny Cycl. XXVI. 16/2 s.v. United States. |
e. In the Navy: ‘The senior officer in any port or station appointed to hold command over all other vessels within the limits assigned to him. Thus the commodore on the coast of Africa is de facto commander-in-chief’ (Adm. Smyth).
| 1890 Times 12 Sept. 4/6 The Northampton..flagship of the Commander-in-Chief at the Nore. |
f. fig.
| 1650 T. Hubbert Pill Formality 12 A form of godliness is the Commander in Chief of all other sins. |
Hence (nonce-wd.) Commander-in-ˈchiefship.
| 1878 W. M. Taylor Daniel the Beloved ix. 166 To himself he reserved the Commander-in-chiefship of the army. |