Definition of oberst:
(N) :
a military rank corresponding to Colonel OF-5 in Anglophone countries, or Polkovnik in Slavophone armed forces.
(N) :
a senior field officer rank in several German-speaking and Scandinavian countries, equivalent to Colonel.
(N) :
a surname of Germanic origin, having originated as a topographic name for someone who lived in the highest part of a village or on a hillside, from Middle High German obrist, meaning ‘uppermost’ (later oberst), the superlative form of ober.