"post-captain" meaning in English

See post-captain in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: post-captains [plural]
Etymology: From both the action of taking or making post (“occupying an established military position”) and the practice of posting (“publicly announcing”) the names of such officers in the London Gazette. Etymology templates: {{m|en|taking post|taking}} taking, {{m|en|making post||occupying an established military position}} making post (“occupying an established military position”), {{m|en|posting||publicly announcing}} posting (“publicly announcing”) Head templates: {{en-noun|head=post-captain}} post-captain (plural post-captains)
  1. (UK military, informal, obsolete) A captain of the 18th or 19th-century Royal Navy in command of a vessel, with his subsequent promotions almost always determined by seniority rather than merit or ability. Wikipedia link: London Gazette, post-captain Tags: UK, informal, obsolete Categories (topical): Military Synonyms: post captain, postcaptain Coordinate_terms: on the bench (english: captain awaiting command)
    Sense id: en-post-captain-en-noun-nghLbea6 Categories (other): British English, English entries with incorrect language header Topics: government, military, politics, war

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for post-captain meaning in English (3.0kB)

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "taking post",
        "3": "taking"
      },
      "expansion": "taking",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "making post",
        "3": "",
        "4": "occupying an established military position"
      },
      "expansion": "making post (“occupying an established military position”)",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "posting",
        "3": "",
        "4": "publicly announcing"
      },
      "expansion": "posting (“publicly announcing”)",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From both the action of taking or making post (“occupying an established military position”) and the practice of posting (“publicly announcing”) the names of such officers in the London Gazette.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "post-captains",
      "tags": [
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  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "head": "post-captain"
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      "expansion": "post-captain (plural post-captains)",
      "name": "en-noun"
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  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "British English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
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            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
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        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
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          "parents": [
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            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "coordinate_terms": [
        {
          "english": "captain awaiting command",
          "word": "on the bench"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1836 March 17, 'Candor', \"The Navy\", Army and Navy Chronicle, Vol. II, No. 11, p. 173",
          "text": "The general principle which governs the navies of the old world is... when the Post is attained, then promotion is by inheritance... If a Post Captain in the English navy lives long enough, he is certain of being an Admiral, though not before he is sixty years of age... Hence it is manifest that the public interest no more requires the new grade of Admiral to be added to the navy, than it does the bestowing of orders of nobility on all the diplomatic agents, who represent the United States at the different courts of Europe."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A captain of the 18th or 19th-century Royal Navy in command of a vessel, with his subsequent promotions almost always determined by seniority rather than merit or ability."
      ],
      "id": "en-post-captain-en-noun-nghLbea6",
      "links": [
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        [
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(UK military, informal, obsolete) A captain of the 18th or 19th-century Royal Navy in command of a vessel, with his subsequent promotions almost always determined by seniority rather than merit or ability."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "post captain"
        },
        {
          "word": "postcaptain"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
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      ],
      "wikipedia": [
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      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "post-captain"
}
{
  "coordinate_terms": [
    {
      "english": "captain awaiting command",
      "word": "on the bench"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "taking post",
        "3": "taking"
      },
      "expansion": "taking",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "making post",
        "3": "",
        "4": "occupying an established military position"
      },
      "expansion": "making post (“occupying an established military position”)",
      "name": "m"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "posting",
        "3": "",
        "4": "publicly announcing"
      },
      "expansion": "posting (“publicly announcing”)",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From both the action of taking or making post (“occupying an established military position”) and the practice of posting (“publicly announcing”) the names of such officers in the London Gazette.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "post-captains",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "head": "post-captain"
      },
      "expansion": "post-captain (plural post-captains)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
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      "categories": [
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        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English informal terms",
        "English lemmas",
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        "English nouns",
        "English terms with obsolete senses",
        "en:Military"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1836 March 17, 'Candor', \"The Navy\", Army and Navy Chronicle, Vol. II, No. 11, p. 173",
          "text": "The general principle which governs the navies of the old world is... when the Post is attained, then promotion is by inheritance... If a Post Captain in the English navy lives long enough, he is certain of being an Admiral, though not before he is sixty years of age... Hence it is manifest that the public interest no more requires the new grade of Admiral to be added to the navy, than it does the bestowing of orders of nobility on all the diplomatic agents, who represent the United States at the different courts of Europe."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A captain of the 18th or 19th-century Royal Navy in command of a vessel, with his subsequent promotions almost always determined by seniority rather than merit or ability."
      ],
      "links": [
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        [
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        [
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        [
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        ],
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          "vessel",
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        ],
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        ],
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        ],
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          "merit",
          "merit"
        ],
        [
          "ability",
          "ability"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(UK military, informal, obsolete) A captain of the 18th or 19th-century Royal Navy in command of a vessel, with his subsequent promotions almost always determined by seniority rather than merit or ability."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "UK",
        "informal",
        "obsolete"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "government",
        "military",
        "politics",
        "war"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "London Gazette",
        "post-captain"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "post captain"
    },
    {
      "word": "postcaptain"
    }
  ],
  "word": "post-captain"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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