skipper

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Nautical The master of a ship.
2. n. A coach, director, or other leader.
3. v. To act as the skipper of.
4. n. One that skips.
5. n. Any of numerous butterflies of the families Hesperiidae and Megathymidae, having a hairy mothlike body, hooked tips on the antennae, and a darting flight pattern.
6. n. Any of several marine fishes that often leap above water, especially the saury Cololabis saira of Pacific waters.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. One who or that which skips or jumps; a leaper; a dancer.
2. n. A locust.
3. n. A trifling, thoughtless person; a skipjack.
4. n. In entomology:
5. n. A hesperian; any butterfly of the family Hesperiidæ: so called from their quick, darting, or jerky flight. Also called hopper. See cut under Hesperia.
6. n. The larva of the cheese-fly, Piophila casei; a cheese-hopper. See cut under cheese-fly.
7. n. One of certain water-beetles or -boatmen of the family Notonectidæ. See cut under water-boatman.
8. n. A skipjack, snapping-bug, or click-beetle. See cut under click-beetle.
9. n. The saury pike, Scomberesox saurus. See cut under saury.
10. n. Same as skip, 4.
11. To move with short skips; skip.
12. n. The master of a small trading or merchant vessel; a sea-captain; hence, in familiar use, one having the principal charge in any kind of vessel.
13. n. A barn; an outhouse; a shed or other place of shelter used as a lodging.
14. To take shelter in a barn, shed, or other rude lodging: sometimes with indefinite it.
15. n. Same as climbing-fish, 2.
16. n. In cricket, the captain of a cricket eleven.
17. n. Also the commander of any other body of men, as of a company of soldiers; a leader.
18. To command a ship; command and drill (as sailors); serve as skipper to.

Wiktionary

1. n. nautical The master of a ship. (literally, 'shipper')
2. n. A coach, director, or other leader.
3. n. sports The captain of a sports team such as football, cricket, rugby or curling.
4. v. transitive To be the skipper of a ship
5. n. Agent noun of skip: one who skips.
6. n. A person who skips, or fails to attend class.
7. n. Any of various butterflies of the families Hesperiidae and its subfamily Megathyminae
8. n. Any of several marine fishes that often leap above water, especially Cololabis saira

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. One who, or that which, skips.
2. n. A young, thoughtless person.
3. n. (Zoöl.) The saury (Scomberesox saurus).
4. n. The cheese maggot. See Cheese fly, under Cheese.
5. n. (Zoöl.) Any one of numerous species of small butterflies of the family Hesperiadæ; -- so called from their peculiar short, jerking flight.
6. n. (Naut.) The master of a fishing or small trading vessel; hence, the master, or captain, of any vessel.
7. n. obsolete A ship boy.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. the naval officer in command of a military ship
2. n. a student who fails to attend classes
3. v. work as the skipper on a vessel
4. n. an officer who is licensed to command a merchant ship