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colonel Definition

colonel (kʉrnəl)

noun

  1. a military officer ranking above a lieutenant colonel and below a brigadier general, and corresponding to a captain in the navy
  2. ☆ an honorary, nonmilitary title in some southern or western U.S. states

Etymology: earlier coronel < Fr colonel, coronel (-r- by dissimilation) < It colonello < colonna, (military) column < L columna, column; Fr & E sp. modified after L & It, but older pronun. kept in E

colonel Related Forms
colonelcy (-sē) noun pl. -·cies
colonel Usage Examples

Converse of object

  • appoint: Appointed colonel of a cavalry regiment In August 1642, Byron was sent to secure the city of Oxford in the King's name.
  • say: At stake, says the colonel, are the government's plans to develop the country's biggest and poorest province.
  • become: Became a colonel in the Eastern Association army, later governor of King's Lynn.
  • see: Sarah told the justices she was on her way to Ashton-under-Lyne to see the colonel at the barracks.
  • make: He has been made an honorary colonel of the 1st South African Tank Regiment.

Adjective modifier

  • retired: I was engaged in a cocktail party conversation with a recently retired air force colonel.
  • honorary: He has been made an honorary colonel of the 1st South African Tank Regiment.
  • former: In New York, the former colonel won a scholarship to study with Martha Graham.
  • Greek: It was filmed in Greece in 1974, at no small risk, under the hard-line rule of the Greek colonels ' junta.
  • British: One wise old British colonel said even in those early days, " I believe we shall rue this business for many years.

Noun used with modifier

  • lieutenant: The son had been a lieutenant colonel in the army.
  • army: Rokke, a former US army colonel, also briefed the Commons Defense Select Committee on the risks of DU in 1999.
  • police: Baha Mousa, the son of an Iraqi police colonel, died of asphyxiation.
  • air: I was engaged in a cocktail party conversation with a recently retired air force colonel.
  • force: I was engaged in a cocktail party conversation with a recently retired air force colonel.

Possessives

  • group: The scientist was not surprised that I hadn't heard the story of the colonel's group.

Preposition: in

  • army: Napier was promoted colonel in the army on 27 May 1825.

Preposition: of

  • regiment: By 1646, he was colonel of a cavalry regiment.
  • militia: He moved to Texas in 1830 and served as lieutenant colonel of the militia of Austin.
colonel Quotes

Our colonel comes from Brian's race, His wounds are in his breast and face.

—Davis,Thomas Osborne

For the Colonel's Lady an' Judy O'Grady Are sisters under their skins!

—Kipling, (Joseph) Rudyard

Browse dictionary entries near colonel

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