noun.
A leader of an Islamic polity, regarded as a successor of Muhammad and by tradition always male.
The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
noun.
See calif, califate.
the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
noun.
Successor or vicar; the civil and religious leader of a Muslim state; -- a title of the successors of Mohammed both as temporal and spiritual rulers, used formerly by the sultans of Turkey.
noun.
The political leader of the Muslim world, successor of Muhammad's political authority, not religious or spiritual.
WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
noun.
the civil and religious leader of a Muslim state considered to be a representative of Allah on earth
Word Usage
"The Ottoman sultans then claimed the title of caliph and brandished it for four centuries until Kamal Ataturk, founder of the Turkish Republic, abolished it in 1924."