Careful Words

chief (n.)

chief (adj.)

Meek and lowly, pure and holy,

Chief among the "blessed three."

Charles Jefferys (1807-1865): Charity.

A wit's a feather, and a chief a rod;

An honest man's the noblest work of God.

Alexander Pope (1688-1744): Essay on Man. Epistle iv. Line 247.

Hail to the chief who in triumph advances!

Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832): Lady of the Lake. Canto ii. Stanza 19.

Oh for one hour of blind old Dandolo,

The octogenarian chief, Byzantium's conquering foe!

Lord Byron 1788-1824: Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. Canto iv. Stanza 12.

Stately and tall he moves in the hall,

The chief of a thousand for grace.

Kate Franklin: Life at Olympus, Lady's Book, Vol. xxiii. p. 33.