2. (Navy)
Defn: An officer who ranks next below a captain, — ranking with a lieutenant colonel in the army.
3. The chief officer of a commandery.
4. A heavy beetle or wooden mallet, used in paving, in sail lofts, etc. Commander in chief, the military title of the officer who has supreme command of the land or naval forces or the united forces of a nation or state; a generalissimo. The President is commander in chief of the army and navy of the United States.
Syn.
— See Chief.
COMMANDERSHIP
Com*mand"er*ship, n.
Defn: The office of a commander.
COMMANDERY
Com*mand"er*y, n.; pl. Commanderies. Etym: [F. commanderie.]
1. The office or rank of a commander. [Obs.]
2. A district or a manor with lands and tenements appertaining thereto, under the control of a member of an order of knights who was called a commander; — called also a preceptory.