commodore
/ˈkɒmədɔː
/noun
1A naval rank above captain and below rear admiral, generally given temporarily to an officer commanding a squadron or division of a fleet.The highest-ranking female officer in the Royal Navy is a commodore....
- Among those attending were several former commodores and captains of the ship.
- In her time she was under the command of nine admirals and finally one commodore, and during royal tours was manned by 220 Yachtsmen, 21 officers, three season officers and a Royal Marines Band of 26.
1.1The president of a yacht club.He was the commodore of the yacht club - everyone called him The Commodore - but all the kids were scared to sail with him....
- Born and raised on a farm in Minnesota, she became an avid sailor on the state's many lakes, racing sailboats and eventually winding up as the first female commodore of her yacht club.
- ‘I know sailors all over the country and I believe they can be mobilized as a constituency for change in ocean policy,’ says Rockefeller, himself a former yacht club commodore.
1.2The senior captain of a shipping line.At Tilbury she picked up 53 first-class passengers before Captain Richard Griffith, a 46-year-old commodore of the Atlantic Line, headed her down the Channel at a steady 13 knots....
- With the full consent of the Board he continued to sail as Commodore until the end of the summer season of 1900.
- I am honoured by this appointment to Commodore of the fleet of the most famous shipping company in the world.
Origin
Late 17th century: probably from Dutch komandeur, from French commandeur 'commander'.