sky pilot

American

noun

Slang.

a member of the clergy, especially a chaplain of the armed forces.

sky pilot British

noun

slang a chaplain in one of the military services

"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

Etymology

Origin of sky pilot

First recorded in 1880–85

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Many a Navy sky pilot wonders out loud how he can go back to strictly denominational ministering after the war.

From Time Magazine Archive

Depending on our courage and state of mind we run either for the woods or the Hall, to discover that no matter how thin you slice it, it is still sky pilot baloney.

From Time Magazine Archive

George Hubert Wilkins, black-bearded Australian soldier of fortune, and his sky pilot, Carl Ben Eielson, saying they had crawled safely off the Polar Sea after 17 days and nights of discomfort.

From Time Magazine Archive

He was the chaplain of several squadrons, and had to fly from one to another to take services on Sundays after the manner of a true "sky pilot."

From The Great War As I Saw It by Scott, Frederick George

We were all feeling pretty sour on the world when the sky pilot came along and cheered us up.

From A Yankee in the Trenches by Holmes, Robert Derby

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023