chief

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English

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Etymology

From Middle English cheef, chef, from the current french word Chef, chief (“leader”), from Vulgar Latin capus (from which also captain, chieftain), from Latin caput (“head”) (English cap (“head covering”)), from Proto-Indo-European *kauput- (English head). Doublet of chef.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /t͡ʃiːf/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -iːf

Noun

chief (plural chiefs)

  2. A leader or head of a group of people, organisation, etc.
    All firefighters report to the fire chief.
  3. (heraldry) 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.
    • 1889, Charles Norton Elvin, A Dictionary of Heraldry:
      When the Chief is Charged with any figure, in blazon it is said to be "On a Chief".
  4. The principal part or top of anything.
  5. (sometimes ironic) An informal term of address.
    1. (US, Canada, offensive) An informal term of address for a Native American or First Nations man.

Synonyms

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Pages starting with “chief”.

Terms derived from chief (noun)

Related terms

Descendants

  • → Japanese: チーフ (chīfu)
  • → Swahili: chifu

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Adjective

chief (comparative chiefer or more chief, superlative chiefest or most chief)

  1. Primary; principal.
    Negligence was the chief cause of the disaster.
    • 1727, Tobias Swinden, “The Improbability of Hell Fire’s Being in, or about the Center of the Earth”, in An Enquiry into the Nature and Place of Hell. With a Supplement, wherein the Notions of Abp Tillotson, Dr. Lupton, and Others, as to the Eternity of Hell Torments, are Impartially Represented. And the Rev. Mr. Wall’s Sentiments of this Learned Work, 2nd edition, London: Printed by H. P. for Tho[mas] Astley, at the Dolphin and Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard, →OCLC, pages 98–99:
      […] But when we find that they [volcanoes] are but few in Number, and the chiefeſt of thoſe too near the torrid Zone, and from their Tops to iſſue forth, now clear Fire, then thick, black Smoke, and ſometimes little or nothing at all; we muſt conclude, that they are only particular Fires, probably of the Sun’s kindling at firſt, and ſince continued by the caſual and incidental Applications of that Pabulum, which thoſe Part of the Earth adminiſter to them.
    • 2011, Roy F. Baumeister, John Tierney, Willpower, →ISBN, page 113:
      Researchers found that one of the chief effects of drinking was to reduce people's ability to monitor their own behavior.
  2. (Scotland) Intimate, friendly.
    • 2006, James Robertson, The Testament of Gideon Mack, page 324:
      'You’re doing it because she was your friend, not because she was a parishioner, and certainly not because of the Declaratory Articles,' Macmurray said, pushing himself forward on his seat. 'Everybody knows how chief you and she were. It was an unfitting relationship for a minister while she was alive, and it is equally unfitting for you to do her a favour like this now she's dead.'

Translations

Verb

chief (third-person singular simple present chiefs, present participle chiefing, simple past and past participle chiefed)

  1. (US, slang) To smoke cannabis.
    • 2012, Marquis "Cream" Cureton, When the Smoke Clears (page 268)
      He chiefed on the bud like a pro, taking long deep hits and holding it within until he had inhaled as much of the weed smoke as he could.

See also

Anagrams

Middle English

Noun

chief

  1. Alternative form of chef

Adjective

chief

  1. Alternative form of chef

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French chief.

Noun

chief m (plural chiefs)

  1. head

Descendants

  • French: chef (see there for further descendants)

Old French

Alternative forms

  • cap (Occitanism found in La Vie de Saint Léger, circa 980)
  • chef, cief

Etymology

First known attestation 881 in The Sequence of Saint Eulalia. From Vulgar Latin capus, from Latin caput.

Pronunciation

Noun

chief oblique singular, m (oblique plural chiés, nominative singular chiés, nominative plural chief)

  1. (anatomy) head
  2. leader, chief
  3. front (foremost side of something)

Descendants

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