chief

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}]
    

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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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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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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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. 
    

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