[syn: chief(a), main(a), primary(a), principal(a), master(a)]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Ordinary \Or"di*na*ry\, n.; pl. Ordinaries (-r[i^]z).
1. (Law)
(a) (Roman Law) An officer who has original jurisdiction
in his own right, and not by deputation.
(b) (Eng. Law) One who has immediate jurisdiction in
matters ecclesiastical; an ecclesiastical judge; also,
a deputy of the bishop, or a clergyman appointed to
perform divine service for condemned criminals and
assist in preparing them for death.
(c) (Am. Law) A judicial officer, having generally the
powers of a judge of probate or a surrogate.
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2. The mass; the common run. [Obs.]
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I see no more in you than in the ordinary
Of nature's salework. --Shak.
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3. That which is so common, or continued, as to be considered
a settled establishment or institution. [R.]
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Spain had no other wars save those which were grown
into an ordinary. --Bacon.
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4. Anything which is in ordinary or common use.
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Water buckets, wagons, cart wheels, plow socks, and
other ordinaries. --Sir W.
Scott.
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5. A dining room or eating house where a meal is prepared for
all comers, at a fixed price for the meal, in distinction
from one where each dish is separately charged; a table
d'h[^o]te; hence, also, the meal furnished at such a
dining room. --Shak.
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All the odd words they have picked up in a
coffeehouse, or a gaming ordinary, are produced as
flowers of style. --Swift.
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He exacted a tribute for licenses to hawkers and
peddlers and to ordinaries. --Bancroft.
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6. (Her.) A charge or bearing of simple form, one of nine or
ten which are in constant use. The bend, chevron,
chief, cross, fesse, pale, and saltire are
uniformly admitted as ordinaries. Some authorities include
bar, bend sinister, pile, and others. See Subordinary.
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In ordinary.
(a) In actual and constant service; statedly attending and
serving; as, a physician or chaplain in ordinary. An
ambassador in ordinary is one constantly resident at a
foreign court.
(b) (Naut.) Out of commission and laid up; -- said of a
naval vessel.
Ordinary of the Mass (R. C. Ch.), the part of the Mass
which is the same every day; -- called also the canon of
the Mass.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Chief \Chief\ (ch[=e]n), n. [OE. chief, chef, OF. chief, F.
chef, fr. L. caput head, possibly akin to E. head. Cf.
Captain, Chapter]
1. The head or leader of any body of men; a commander, as of
an army; a head man, as of a tribe, clan, or family; a
person in authority who directs the work of others; the
principal actor or agent.
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2. The principal part; the most valuable portion.
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The chief of the things which should be utterly
destroyed. --1 Sam. xv.
21
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3. (Her.) The upper third part of the field. It is supposed
to be composed of the dexter, sinister, and middle chiefs.
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In chief.
(a) At the head; as, a commander in chief.
(b) (Eng. Law) From the king, or sovereign; as, tenure in
chief, tenure directly from the king.
Syn: Chieftain; captain; general; commander; leader; head;
principal; sachem; sagamore; sheik.
Usage: Chief, chieftain, Commander, Leader. These
words fluctuate somewhat in their meaning according to
circumstances, but agree in the general idea of rule
and authority. The term chief is now more usually
applied to one who is a head man, leader, or commander
in civil or military affairs, or holds a hereditary or
acquired rank in a tribe or clan; as, the chief of
police; the chief of an Indian tribe. A chieftain is
the chief of a clan or tribe, or a military leader. A
commander directs the movements of or has control over
a body of men, as a military or naval force. A leader
is one whom men follow, as in a political party, a
legislative body, a military or scientific expedition,
etc., one who takes the command and gives direction in
particular enterprises.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Chief \Chief\, a.
1. Highest in office or rank; principal; head. "Chief
rulers." --John. xii. 42.
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2. Principal or most eminent in any quality or action; most
distinguished; having most influence; taking the lead;
most important; as, the chief topic of conversation; the
chief interest of man.
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3. Very intimate, near, or close. [Obs.]
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A whisperer separateth chief friends. --Prov. xvi.
28.
Syn: Principal; head; leading; main; paramount; supreme;
prime; vital; especial; great; grand; eminent; master.
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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
chief
adj 1: most important element; "the chief aim of living"; "the
main doors were of solid glass"; "the principal rivers of
America"; "the principal example"; "policemen were
primary targets"; "the master bedroom"; "a master switch"
[syn: chief(a), main(a), primary(a),
principal(a), master(a)]
n 1: a person who is in charge; "the head of the whole
operation" [syn: head, chief, top dog]
2: a person who exercises control over workers; "if you want to
leave early you have to ask the foreman" [syn: foreman,
chief, gaffer, honcho, boss]
3: the head of a tribe or clan [syn: headman, tribal chief,
chieftain, chief]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
357 Moby Thesaurus words for "chief":
A per se, Big Brother, ace, achievement, acmatic, alerion,
all-absorbing, animal charge, annulet, anointed king, antecedent,
anterior, apical, arch, argent, armorial bearings, armory, arms,
ascendant, at the head, auditor, azure, bandeau, banner, bar,
bar sinister, baton, bearings, bend, bend sinister, big cheese,
big wheel, big-timer, bigwig, billet, blazon, blazonry, boatswain,
bordure, boss, broad arrow, bwana, cadency mark, canton, capital,
captain, cardinal, central, champion, chaplet, charge, chef,
chevron, chieftain, church dignitary, coat of arms, cock,
cockatrice, commander, commanding, comptroller, consequential,
consummate, controller, controlling, coronet, crescent, crest,
cross, cross moline, crown, crowned head, crowning, dean, device,
dictator, difference, differencing, dignitary, directing,
directive, directorial, directory, dominant, doyen, doyenne, duce,
dynast, eagle, ecclesiarch, effective, elder, electronics king,
eminence, emperor, employer, ermine, ermines, erminites, erminois,
escutcheon, essential, exordial, falcon, fess, fess point, field,
file, first, first and foremost, flanch, fleur-de-lis,
floor manager, floorman, floorwalker, focal, fore, foregoing,
forehand, foreman, foremost, forward, fret, front, frontal,
fugleman, fuhrer, fur, fusil, gaffer, ganger, garland, general,
genius, goodman, governing, governor, grand duke, great, greatest,
griffin, guiding, gules, guru, gyron, hatchment, head, heading,
headman, headmost, hegemonic, hegemonistic, helmet,
heraldic device, hierarch, high chief, high priest, higher-up,
highest, himself, honcho, honor point, husband, impalement,
impaling, imperator, important, important person, in ascendancy,
in charge, in chief, in the ascendant, inescutcheon, initiatory,
inspector, key, king, king-emperor, kingfish, kinglet, kingpin,
label, laureate, lead, leader, leading, leading light, liege,
liege lord, lion, lord, lord paramount, lozenge, luminary,
magisterial, maiden, main, majesty, major, man, manager,
managerial, managing, mantling, marshaling, martlet, mascle,
master, master spirit, maximal, maximum, meridian, meridional,
metal, momentous, monarch, monitor, motto, mullet, nombril point,
noncommissioned officer, nonpareil, notability, number one,
octofoil, or, ordinary, orle, outstanding, overlord, overman,
overmost, overriding, overruling, overseer, padrone, pale, paly,
paragon, paramount, paterfamilias, patriarch, patron, pean,
personage, petty king, pheon, potent, potentate, precedent,
preceding, precessional, precursory, predominant, predominate,
preeminent, prefatory, preliminary, preludial, prelusive, premier,
preparatory, prepollent, preponderant, preponderate, prepotent,
prevailing, prevalent, prevenient, prima donna, primal, primary,
prime, prince, prince consort, principal, prior, proctor, prodigy,
proemial, prominent, propaedeutic, purpure, quarter, quartering,
rabbi, ranking, regnant, regulating, regulative, regulatory,
reigning, ringleader, rose, royal, royal personage, royalty, ruler,
ruling, sable, sahib, saltire, scutcheon, seigneur, seignior,
senior, shield, significant, sirdar, slave driver, sovereign,
spread eagle, star, starets, stellar, straw boss, subforeman,
subordinary, summital, super, supereminent, superintendent,
superior, superman, superstar, supervisor, supreme, surveyor,
suzerain, taskmaster, teacher, telling, tenne, tetrarch,
the greatest, the most, tincture, tip-top, top, top dog, topflight,
topmost, torse, tressure, ultimate, unicorn, upmost, uppermost,
vair, vert, vertical, virtuoso, visitor, weighty, wreath, yale,
zenithal
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):
CHIEF, principal. One who is put above the rest; as, chief magistrate chief
justice : it also signifies the best of a number of things. It is frequently
used in composition.