Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In Poland, the commander of an army. The great hetman was formerly the commander-in-chief in the old kingdom of Poland.
- noun Among the Cossacks, formerly, the elected chief of each of their principal communities; a Cossack chief; an ataman.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A Cossack headman or general. The title of
chief hetman is now held by the heir to the throne of Russia.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
Cossack headman or general. - noun Title used by the second-highest military commander in Poland and Lithuania (15th to 18th century).
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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"I've always heard that the name hetman is not just historical but a word that mean charismatic and strong military leader," Shaw explains.
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They looked up at me stupidly and pointed, but just then the "hetman" of the Szgany came out, and seeing them pointing to my window, said something, at which they laughed.
Dracula 1897
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They looked up at me stupidly and pointed, but just then the "hetman" of the Szgany came out, and seeing them pointing to my window, said something, at which they laughed.
Dracula Bram Stoker 1879
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But the imprudent Swede turned southward into the district of the _Ukraine_, there to be joined by _Mazeppa_, the "hetman" of the Cossacks, who led them in revolt against
Outline of Universal History George Park Fisher 1868
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Matvei Ivanovich Platoff, hetman of Cossacks, and Russian commander in the
Letter 292 2009
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Matvei Ivanovich Platoff, hetman of Cossacks, and Russian commander in the
Letter 290 2009
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Fortunately, he was not a hetman of Cossacks for nothing.
The Sky Writer Geoff Barbanell 2010
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Now it is a new Russia, and instead of the hetman we have rulers from Moscow to govern the tribe.
The Sky Writer Geoff Barbanell 2010
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We owed loyalty to none but our comrades and the hetman we elected to lead us - I was such a one.
The Sky Writer Geoff Barbanell 2010
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Conan, working as a hetman of the Free Peoples is on the trail of a girl he had met in camp.
Archive 2007-03-01 Blue Tyson 2007
Telofy commented on the word hetman
Careful, the plural is hetmans.
October 16, 2010