or Calif. A title given to the successors of Mahomet.
Among the Saracens a caliph is one vested with supreme dignity. The
caliphat of Bagdad reached its highest splendour under Haroun al
Raschid, in the ninth century. For the last 200 years the appellation
has been swallowed up in the titles of Shah, Sultan, Emir, and
so on. (Arabic, Khalifah, a successor; khalafa, to
succeed.)
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
