Definition of "chief justice" [chief• jus•tice]

• The presiding judge of a high court having several judges, especially the U.S. Supreme Court. (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.

• "They appointed Lucius Licinius Lucullus to restore order; he was a praetor, a high-ranking public official who was combination chief justice and lieutenant general."
• "Beyond the village, about a hundred yards to the east, stood a spacious stone mansion with ornamental grounds, statues, groves, and shrubbery—the country seat of Benjamin Chew, chief justice of Pennsylvania."
• "For this reason, for example, William Allen, chief justice of Pennsylvania, was among those unwilling to take up arms against the king."