Alcaide

//ælˈkaɪdi// name, noun

name, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The governor or commander of a Spanish or Portuguese fortress or prison. historical

    "Soon after Mr. Petticrew arrived at Gibraltar, he came to Tetuan in his majeſty's ſhip Seahorſe, to acquaint the alcaide that he had orders from the king of Great Britain,[…]."

  2. 2
    A caid.
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname from Spanish.

Example

More examples

"Soon after Mr. Petticrew arrived at Gibraltar, he came to Tetuan in his majeſty's ſhip Seahorſe, to acquaint the alcaide that he had orders from the king of Great Britain,[…]."

Etymology

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Spanish alcaide, from Arabic الْقَائِد (al-qāʔid, “leader”); Doublet of caid and Alkaid.

Etymology 2

From Spanish.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.