postcaptain
postcaptain is the alternative form of post-captain.
Meaning of post-captain
Noun
post-captain (plural post-captains)
- A captain of the 18th or 19th-century Royal Navy in command of a vessel, with his subsequent promotions almost always determined by seniority rather than merit or ability.
- The general principle which governs the navies of the old world is... when the Post is attained, then promotion is by inheritance... If a Post Captain in the English navy lives long enough, he is certain of being an Admiral, though not before he is sixty years of age... Hence it is manifest that...1836 March 17, 'Candor', "The Navy", Army and Navy Chronicle, Vol. II, No. 11, p. 173
Forms of postcaptain
| plural | postcaptains |
|---|
Questions about postcaptain
- What is postcaptain the alternative form of?
- Postcaptain is the alternative form of post-captain.
Words near postcaptain in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: postcaptain (page history and authors); post-captain (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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