air marshal

American  

noun

British.

1. an air force officer of a rank comparable to an army lieutenant general.

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air marshal British  

noun

1. a senior Royal Air Force officer of equivalent rank to a vice admiral in the Royal Navy

2. a Royal Australian Air Force officer of the highest rank

3. a Royal New Zealand Air Force officer of the highest rank when chief of defence forces

4. a person employed to travel as an armed guard on commercial flights to protect against hijacking

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Etymology

Origin of air marshal

First recorded in 1915–20

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

air marshal

Before joining HSI, Nelson was in the Air Force and served in Iraq in 2008, then worked at state and federal prisons and as an air marshal.

From Washington Times ● Jan. 24, 2023

Stephanie Metzger, a supervisory air marshal in charge who was on-site for the training, said a big part of the class is to build self confidence, as well as give flight crew critical self-defense lessons.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 25, 2021

MacLean, a former air marshal, won the first federal whistleblower case before the Supreme Court in 2015.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 4, 2019

The 29-year-old tech entrepreneur breezed past the check-in desk and out onto the tarmac with the confidence of an air marshal, a pair of heart-shaped sunglasses perched on her nose.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2019

One report questioned the contributions of the federal air marshal program, which places armed marshals on commercial flights to protect passengers and crews against a terrorist attack.

From New York Times ● Dec. 5, 2017