alcaide
Americannoun
plural
alcaides-
a commander of a fortress.
-
a jailer; the warden of a prison.
noun
-
the commander of a fortress or castle
-
the governor of a prison
Etymology
Origin of alcaide
First recorded in 1495–1505; from Spanish, from Arabic al-qā'id “the leader”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A Spanish Cuba rose—Iberian and yet singularly different—a business of Captain-General and Teniente Rey, of alcalde and alcaide, of Santiago de Cuba and San Crist�bal de la Habana.
From San Crist?bal de la Habana by Hergesheimer, Joseph
"What are the revenues of the alcaide of Gibraltar?" he asked of two Christian captives he had taken.
From Historical Tales - The Romance of Reality - Volume VII by Morris, Charles
He was later a treasury officer at Darien, governor of Cartagena, and alcaide of the fort at Santo Domingo.
From The Book of Buried Treasure Being a True History of the Gold, Jewels, and Plate of Pirates, Galleons, etc., which are sought for to this day by Paine, Ralph Delahaye
At Algiers, he said, there lived, overlooking the prison, a great alcaide named Hadji Morato, a very rich man, who had but one child, a daughter of great beauty.
From The Story of Don Quixote by Choate, Florence
Then we must do with St. James of Compostella what the men of Burgos did with their alcaide, who persisted in getting drunk when he ought to have been getting sober.
From Tales from the Lands of Nuts and Grapes Spanish and Portuguese Folklore by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.