noun
colonel; navy captain
Military rank; in the Imperial Japanese Army it corresponds to colonel, and in the Imperial Japanese Navy to captain. The reading だいさ was used specifically by the Imperial Japanese Navy.
彼は陸軍の大佐に昇進した。
He was promoted to colonel in the army.
海軍では大佐は艦長を務めることが多
In the navy, a captain often serves as the commanding officer of a ship.
From Chinese-derived terms 大 (great) and 佐 (assistant, help), originally used in ancient Chinese official titles and later adopted for modern military ranks in Japan.