chieftain
(ˈtʃiːftɪn)
Forms: 4 cheftayne, 5–6 chieftayne, 6–7 -taine, 7–8 -tan, 5– -tain; also 4 chefteyn, chiftaigne, chyftan, 5 chefteyne, -tane, -taigne, -tayn, -tan, chiftene, chiefteyn, chyeftayne, 5–7 Sc. chiftan, 6 chefetaine, cheefteine, cheefetein, chiefteyne, -teine, (cheiftane, chiefden), 6–7 chiefetain(e, chiftain, 7 cheeftain(e, (8 cheiftan).
[ME. chef-, chieftayne, arose as a variant of the earlier chevetaine, partly phonetic (for chevtaine), partly assimilated to chef, chief, and gradually superseded all the varieties of the earlier form. Chiefteyn, cheftain occur occas. in Anglo-French.]
† 1. The head of a body of men, of an organization, state, town, party, office, etc.; head-man, ruler, chief. Obs. in gen. sense.
| c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. (1864) B. 1295 Wyth charged chariotes þe cheftayne he fyndez. c 1400 Destr. Troy 3662 To chese hom a cheftayn to be chefe of þem all. c 1450 Merlin 97 To yeve vs a kynge and chiefteyn that may saue and mayntene holy cherche. 1549 Compl. Scot. (1801) 151 Inglismen tuik not God to be their cheiftane. 1587 Fleming Cont. Holinshed III. 1019/1 The magistrates and cheefeteins of the citie. 1837 Sir F. Palgrave Merch. & Friar ii. (1844) 52 Every one of these groups of peasantry..had a species of chieftain. |
2. A military leader; a captain.
arch. and
poet.| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 16 Dardan hight þe cheftayn of þat company, Sadok sonne of Danmark kyng Danesry. c 1400 Destr. Troy 4790 Then Agamynon..chargit hom as cheften all his choise pepull. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 416 The Scottes..appoynted two Armies to invade Englande. Of the first was chiefetaine syr Thomas Halibarton. Ibid. II. 434 Sent to the sea Lord Edmond Holland Erle of Kent, as Chefetaine of that Crewe. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1638) 16 These two armies conducted by their most resolute chiefetains. 1791 Cowper Iliad xvii. 172 Ah, Hector, Chieftain of excelling form. 1816 Byron Ch. Har. iii. xxiii, Brunswick's fated chieftain. 1847 Emerson Poems, Threnody Wks. (Bohn) I. 489 The chieftain paced beside The centre of the troop allied. |
b. The captain or leader of a band of robbers.
| a 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Hist. Jas. I Wks. (1711) 6 Rather..than render himself chiftain of thievish troops. 1847 Mrs. A. Kerr Hist. Servia 134 The robber chieftain left them; the Pacha of Bosnia came to their aid. |
3. The
chief of a clan or tribe:
a. of a Highland clan. (Attempts have been made to differentiate
chief and
chieftain: see
quot. 1818.) Also sometimes extended to heads of Border clans and others representing the oldest branch of their family.
| 1587 Sc. Acts (1597) §94 [erroneously printed §96] The Captaines, chieffes, and chieftaines of all Clannes..and the principalls of the branches of the saidis Clannes. Ibid. §100 To require..redresse thereof, at the chiefe of the Clanne, or chieftaine of the Cuntrie. 1639 Sc. Parl., Minutes of Articles 17 Oct., That the chieftanes of Clannes and Landislorde might be obleist to bring in all brokin men. 1772 Pennant Tours Scotl. (1774) 207 The islands still remained governed by powerful chieftains. 1814 Scott Let. in Lockhart xxxiii, Health to the Chieftain from his clansman true! 1818 ― Rob Roy Introd., Chieftains, which in the Highland acceptation, signifies the head of a particular branch of a tribe, in opposition to Chief, who is the leader and commander of the whole name. 1842 Miss Mitford in L'Estrange Life III. ix. 160 She [Lady Willoughby] wore..the chieftain's bonnet with two eagle's feathers. 1858 Gladstone Homer I. 460 The Macdonalds, Lords of the Isles..who claimed to be Kings as well as Chieftains. |
b. of a tribe or primitive people.
| 1837 W. Irving Capt. Bonneville II. 165 Prevailing upon the Crow chieftain to return him his horses. 1841 D'Israeli Amen. Lit. (1867) 53 Beowulf, a chieftain of the Western Danes, was the Achilles of the North. 1844 H. H. Wilson Brit. India I. 69 The chieftains of Rajputana, particularly the Rajas of Bundi and Jaypur. |
† 4. One who takes a chief or leading part; a leader, principal, head.
Obs.| 1513 More Rich. III (1641) 292 The Chiefetaynes of the conjuration in England. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 412 The Abbot..heeryng that the Chiefeteynes of his Felowship were taken and executed. 1600 Holland Livy xl. liii. 1092 To proceed against them who had been the cheeftaines and counsellers to persuade them to passe over the Alpes. |
| fig. c 1386 Chaucer Pars. T. ¶313 The deedly synnes, this is to seyn Chieftaynes of synnes..Now been they cleped Chieftaynes for as much as they been chief. |
5. Her. = chief n. 3.
| 1572 J. Bossewell Armorie ii. 30 b, Here the fielde remaynethe perfecte without alteration of coloure, and abydeth onely as charged in the chefetaine. |