alcaide

American  

[al-kahy-dee, ahl-kahy-the] / ælˈkaɪ di, ɑlˈkaɪ ðɛ /

Or alcayde

noun

plural

alcaides

1. a commander of a fortress.

2. a jailer; the warden of a prison.

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alcaide British  

/ alˈkaɪðe, ælˈkeɪd /

noun

1. the commander of a fortress or castle

2. the governor of a prison

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Etymology

Origin of alcaide

First recorded in 1495–1505; from Spanish, from Arabic al-qā'id “the leader”

Example Sentences

Then we must do with St. James of Compostella what the men of Burgos did with their alcaide, who persisted in getting drunk when he ought to have been getting sober.

From Tales from the Lands of Nuts and Grapes Spanish and Portuguese Folklore by Various

The next day this account was confirmed; for, at seven in the morning, an alcaide came and ordered all our people out to work, excepting the sick.

From Thrilling Narratives of Mutiny, Murder and Piracy A weird series of tales of shipwreck and disaster, from the earliest part of the century to the present time, with accounts of providential escapes and heart-rending fatalities. by Anonymous

He was later a treasury officer at Darien, governor of Cartagena, and alcaide of the fort at Santo Domingo.

From The Book of Buried Treasure Being a True History of the Gold, Jewels, and Plate of Pirates, Galleons, etc., which are sought for to this day by Paine, Ralph Delahaye

At Algiers, he said, there lived, overlooking the prison, a great alcaide named Hadji Morato, a very rich man, who had but one child, a daughter of great beauty.

From The Story of Don Quixote by Choate, Florence

At this instant there was great warre betweene this alcaide and another gouernor of the next prouince.

From The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation — Volume 11 by Hakluyt, Richard