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say it: KAP-tuhn
captain is a noun and verb meaning "an officer holding a rank below a major but above a lieutenant". It carries 8 recorded senses.
an officer holding a rank below a major but above a lieutenant
military
the naval officer in command of a military ship
military
a policeman in charge of a precinct
an officer who is licensed to command a merchant ship
the pilot in charge of an airship
a dining-room attendant who is in charge of the waiters and the seating of customers
be the captain of a sports team
Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.
Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for captain come from Princeton University’s WordNet. The pronunciation comes from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.