sky pilot

American

noun

Slang.

a member of the clergy, especially a chaplain of the armed forces.

sky pilot British

noun

slang a chaplain in one of the military services

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of sky pilot

First recorded in 1880–85

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.

Many a Navy sky pilot wonders out loud how he can go back to strictly denominational ministering after the war.

From Time Magazine Archive

Depending on our courage and state of mind we run either for the woods or the Hall, to discover that no matter how thin you slice it, it is still sky pilot baloney.

From Time Magazine Archive

George Hubert Wilkins, black-bearded Australian soldier of fortune, and his sky pilot, Carl Ben Eielson, saying they had crawled safely off the Polar Sea after 17 days and nights of discomfort.

From Time Magazine Archive

"Someone told him there was a sky pilot aboard the ship!"

From Port O' Gold A History-Romance of the San Francisco Argonauts by Stellman, Louis J. (Louis John)

And if a sky pilot can answer those questions right, why I'm going to have one in here if I have to mount guard on him, day and night.

From Judith of the Godless Valley by Morrow, Honoré

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023