It was a mode of declaring who was to have the chieftainship, in succession to the Testator.
They intimated to him that in all probability he would soon be elevated to the chieftainship.
No wonder the Indian that slew him was a brave and in the line of chieftainship!
Idling, he pointed out, was not the way to qualify for chieftainship.
He knows they are planning for his removal from the chieftainship.
They were the first tribe of old, and had the first chieftainship.
In consequence he was cut off from the succession to the chieftainship, and publicly flogged.
An Arikkara, he had been adopted by the Mandan, among whom he had risen to a chieftainship.
Around his neck was the torque, the emblem of chieftainship.
I resign my chieftainship now, when I can do it with credit.
early 14c., cheftayne "ruler, chief, head" of something, from Anglo-French chiefteyn, Old French chevetain "captain, chief, leader," from Late Latin capitaneus "commander," from Latin capitis, genitive of caput "head" (see capitulum). According to "Rob Roy" (1818) a Highland chieftain was the head of a branch of a clan, a chief was the head of the whole name. Related: Chieftainship.
