commodore Hear it!

commodore definition

com·mo·dore (käm′ə dôr′)

noun

  1. U.S. Navy
    1. Historical an officer ranking above a captain and below a rear admiral: the rank was abolished in 1899 but temporarily restored in WWII
    2. an officer, with the rank of captain, commanding two or more small ships, as destroyers
  2. the president of a yacht club
  3. the senior captain of a merchant fleet

Etymology: earlier commadore, commandore, prob. via Du kommandeur < Fr commandeur < OFr comandeor < comander: see command

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Comments
Improve this definition.
Do you have more to add? Share your linguistic knowledge or observation.
/Register to save your comments.