LIEUTENANT, noun luten'ant. [Latin tenens, holding.]

1. An officer who supplies the place of a superior in his absence. Officers of this kind are civil, as the lord-lieutenant of a kingdom or county; or military, as a lieutenant general, a lieutenant colonel.

2. In military affairs, the second commissioned officer in a company of infantry cavalry or artillery.

3. In ships of war, the officer next in rank to the captain.