[Sp., substantive use of pa. pple. of adelantar to advance, promote, f. adelante before, forward, f. ad to, at + el the + ante before.] A Spanish grandee; a lord-lieutenant or governor of a province.
1599. Nashe, Lenten Stuffe (1871), 99. As complete an Adelantado, as he that is known by wearing a cloak of tuft-taffeta eighteen years.
1610. B. Jonson, Alchemist, III. iii. (1616), 641. [He is] an Adalantado, A Grande.
1783. Robertson, Amer., I. 258. Ferdinand … appointed him Adelantado, or Lieutenant-governor of the countries upon the South Sea.
1876. Bancroft, Hist. U.S., I. ii. 62. Marquez, nephew to the Adelantado.
1913. Roscoe R. Hill (title), The Office of Adelantado.
