Definition of "cacique" [ca•cique]

• An Indian chief, especially in the Spanish West Indies and other parts of Latin America during colonial and postcolonial times. (noun)
• A local political boss in Spain or Latin America. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "But the cacique was a man of business, and held out stanchly."
• "The cacique was a sagacious heathen of considerable experience, but he had never seen a man like this one."
• "To the general's query, whether the cacique was the subject of Montezuma, he replied, "And what other sovereign could I serve?""