Word Origin Atlas

Exact historical dictionary sense

Chief in Webster's 1913 dictionary

The 1913 record labels chief as noun. Its source-bounded etymology and selected historical definition appear below.

WEBSTER 1913noun
Chief

[OE. chief, chef, OF. chief, F. chef, fr. L. caput head, possibly akin to E. head. Cf. Captain, Chapter]

Cross-verified historical sense
The source text may be outdated. The page preserves that historical boundary.
Cross-verified 1913 record
Headwordchief
Part of speechnoun
Historical etymology[OE. chief, chef, OF. chief, F. chef, fr. L. caput head, possibly akin to E. head. Cf. Captain, Chapter]
Selected historical definitionThe 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.
Signed record IDwebster1913-chief-noun-0b51ca05ac59
Source locatorCIDE.C, paragraph 6536; Gutenberg eBook 661
Edition-scoped answerNot earliest-attestation proofNot modern consensus
Independent historical textProject Gutenberg section 661Signed structural record sourceGNU GCIDE 0.54 archive
Quick answer

In Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), "chief" is labeled noun. Its etymology is recorded as: "[OE. chief, chef, OF. chief, F. chef, fr. L. caput head, possibly akin to E. head. Cf. Captain, Chapter]" The selected historical definition says: "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."

Project Gutenberg Webster 1913 plus signed GNU GCIDE 0.54 Exact cross-verified historical record reviewed 2026-10-04

What this answer proves

One named sense in one historical dictionary edition.

The answer reports the selected headword, part of speech, etymology, definition, and source locator as transcribed in the cross-verified 1913 record.

Evidence boundaryIt does not establish the earliest attestation or a complete borrowing chain.It does not claim current scholarly consensus or a modern dictionary definition.Historical dictionary text may be obsolete, incomplete, inaccurate, or offensive by modern standards.

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