captain general

English

Etymology

Calque of Middle French capitaine général.[1]

Noun

captain general (plural captains general or captain generals)

  1. (now historical) A commander-in-chief; the head of an armed force.
    • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 36, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
      And his humanitie or gentlenes […] was the cause he was deposed of his office of Captaine Generall.
    • 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC:
      “[A] man, without interest or pretension, may present a petition to the captain-general of his majesty's forces, demanding a commission for the first company that shall become vacant, and be as likely to meet with success, as an unsupported author that offers a performance to the stage.”
    • 1992, Jeremy Black, The British Abroad: The Grand Tour in the Eighteenth Century, History Press, published 2020, page 236:
      He was taken to an assembly by the Governor of Cordoba, given dinner by the Captain General of Spain, who arranged transport for him to Cadiz, and was given nine letters alone for Naples by a leading Spanish courtier.

Derived terms
  • captain-generalcy

References
  1. Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “general (n.)”, in Online Etymology Dictionary: “Meaning "commander of an army" is 1570s, shortening of captain general, from French capitaine général.”
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