chieftainship

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word chieftainship. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word chieftainship, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say chieftainship in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word chieftainship you have here. The definition of the word chieftainship will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofchieftainship, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.

English

Etymology

From chieftain +‎ -ship. Piecewise doublet of captainship.

Noun

chieftainship (countable and uncountable, plural chieftainships)

  1. (uncountable) The state of being a chieftain
    • 1852 Commission to Inquire into the Past and Present State of the Kafirs
      Shortly after the death of his father, Chaka obtained the chieftainship of the Zulu nation, through the influence of his patron.
    • 1941 February, O. S. Nock, “The Locomotives of Sir Nigel Gresley: Part 1—G.N.R. 1911-1914”, in Railway Magazine, page 77:
      First as Locomotive Superintendent of the Great Northern Railway, and then as Chief Mechanical Engineer of the L.N.E.R., his chieftainship bridges not merely 28 years of great events in the railway world, but has also witnessed a complete transition from the old operating methods, when engines were nursed and groomed like racehorses, to the stringent economic conditions of today.
  2. (countable) The area ruled by a chieftain
    • 1847, Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, The Red Race of America:
      They exist in chieftainships, each head of which has his own local jurisdiction, civil and criminal.

References