half-colonel

9.9

A person given some of a colonel's power as a joke but not full rank

noun
/ˈhæfˌkoʊrnəl/

Informal

: medio coronel

Everyone teased him by calling him the half-colonel of the office since he was in charge of only one team.

Examples

She found the nickname half-colonel amusing after she was given temporary command.
After years as the half-colonel, he was finally promoted to full colonel.
He was just a half-colonel in the organization.
Many people consider him a half-colonel rather than a real leader.
His colleagues affectionately referred to him as the half-colonel because he only managed a small part of the project.
During the meeting, she was dubbed the half-colonel for leading only a fraction of the team.
After taking charge of a few tasks, he jokingly called himself the half-colonel of the department.

Synonyms

lieutenant colonel

vshalf-colonel

Specialized

13 7.0

A senior officer in the army or air force above a major and below a colonel who leads soldiers

is informal and jokes that someone has only partial, unofficial authority

light colonel

vshalf-colonel

Jargon

8.1

A military officer ranked above major and below colonel, often called lieutenant colonel

is humorous and suggests partial unofficial authority rather than an actual rank

Surface Forms

half-colonel singular

half-colonels plural

Morphology

half-colonel = half + colonel (transparent) = half + colonel

Formed by the productive combination 'half' + 'colonel' meaning a partial or unofficial colonel; the sense is directly inferable.

Etymology

The word half-colonel is a joking mix of half ('part') and colonel ('a senior army officer'). So, a half-colonel is someone with only part of a colonel's authority or a temporary, not fully official leader.