air marshal

noun

, British.

1. an air force officer of a rank comparable to an army lieutenant general.

air marshal

noun

1. a senior Royal Air Force officer of equivalent rank to a vice admiral in the Royal Navy
2. a Royal Australian Air Force officer of the highest rank
3. a Royal New Zealand Air Force officer of the highest rank when chief of defence forces
4. a person employed to travel as an armed guard on commercial flights to protect against hijacking

Word History and Origins

Origin of air marshal¹

First recorded in 1915–20

Example Sentences

Only 24 hours earlier, air marshal Houston had put the size of the search area at 18,000 square miles.

From The Daily Beast

Air marshal Houston was careful to make it clear that, however encouraging, the ping detections were not in itself enough.

From The Daily Beast

Frank Terreri works as a federal air marshal out of LAX, the Los Angeles airport that averages 640 outbound flights a day.

From The Daily Beast