subs. (old).—A toady; a SPONGE (q.v.); a pimp.
1672. WYCHERLEY, Love in a Wood, i. 1. Wks. (1713), 349. For every wit has his culley, as every squire his LED CAPTAIN.
1749. FIELDING, Tom Jones, Bk. xi. ch. ix. Two LED CAPTAINS, who had before rode with his lordship, and who … were ready at any time to have performed the office of a footman, or indeed would have condescended lower, for the honour of his lordship’s company, and for the convenience of his table.
1816. SCOTT, The Antiquary, ch. xxxix. Petrie … recommends, upon his own experience, as tutor in a family of distinction, this attitude to all LED-CAPTAINS, tutors, dependents and bottle-holders of every description.
