lieutenant
[loo-ten-uh nt; in British use, except in the navy, lef-ten-uh nt]
- Military.
- U.S. Navy. a commissioned officer ranking between lieutenant junior grade and lieutenant commander.
- a person who holds an office, civil or military, in subordination to a superior for whom he or she acts: If he can't attend, he will send his lieutenant.
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Origin of lieutenant
1325–75; Middle English < Middle French, noun use of adj. phrase lieu tenant place-holding. See locum tenens, lieu, tenant
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for lieutenant
Contemporary Examples
He was a young Army Air Force lieutenant whose plane crashed in the Pacific in May 1943.
Neary had held the rank of lieutenant since 1983 and received multiple commendations during nearly four decades on the job.
In 2010, he finished second with 39 percent in the race for lieutenant governor.
He ran on a serious one-issue platform: eliminate the office of lieutenant governor.
My immediate chief was a Lieutenant Colonel Verne L. Bowers, clearly picked out by Eisenhower as a highly talented staff officer.
Historical Examples
Lieutenant Rawlins volunteered to try and reach it with the order.
The Story of the Malakand Field ForceSir Winston S. Churchill
Captain Baker and Lieutenant Wheatley followed with a few more.
The Story of the Malakand Field ForceSir Winston S. Churchill
Lieutenant Wynter brought these back, as an escort to the guns.
The Story of the Malakand Field ForceSir Winston S. Churchill
Lieutenant Ford was wounded and a branch of an artery was cut.
The Story of the Malakand Field ForceSir Winston S. Churchill
Had he not had the strength to do so, Lieutenant Ford must have died.
The Story of the Malakand Field ForceSir Winston S. Churchill
lieutenant
- a military officer holding commissioned rank immediately junior to a captain
- a naval officer holding commissioned rank immediately junior to a lieutenant commander
- US an officer in a police or fire department ranking immediately junior to a captain
- a person who holds an office in subordination to or in place of a superior
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Word Origin
C14: from Old French, literally: place-holding
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for lieutenant
n.
late 14c., "one who takes the place of another," from Old French lieu tenant "substitute, deputy," literally "placeholder," from lieu "place" (see lieu) + tenant, present participle of tenir "to hold" (see tenant). The notion is of a "substitute" for higher authority. Specific military sense of "officer next in rank to a captain" is from 1570s. Pronunciation with lef- is common in Britain, and spellings to reflect it date back to 14c., but the origin of this is a mystery (OED rejects suggestion that it comes from old confusion of -u- and -v-).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper