govern

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To make and administer the public policy and affairs of; exercise sovereign authority in.
2. v. To control the speed or magnitude of; regulate: a valve that governs fuel intake.
3. v. To control the actions or behavior of: Govern yourselves like civilized people.
4. v. To keep under control; restrain: a student who could not govern his impulses.
5. v. To exercise a deciding or determining influence on: Chance usually governs the outcome of the game.
6. v. Grammar To require (a specific morphological form) of accompanying words.
7. v. To exercise political authority.
8. v. To have or exercise a determining influence.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To exercise a directing or restraining power over; control or guide: used of any exertion of controlling force, whether physical or moral.
2. Specifically To rule or regulate by right of authority; control according to law or prescription; exercise magisterial, official, or customary power over: as, to govern a state, a church, a bank, a household, etc.
3. In grammar, to cause or require to be in a particular form: as, a transitive verb or a preposition governs a noun or pronoun in the objective case; the possessive case is governed by the thing possessed; the subject governs the verb in number and person. Synonyms and Rule, Control, Govern, Regulate, Manage; conduct, supervise, guide; command, sway, curb, moderate. Of the first five words, rule is the most general, and is the only one that can stand for the exercise of an arbitrary or a loose kind of sway. Control implies a firm rule, which may not attend to the details of administration, but holds persons in check and prevents things from going in a way not desired: as, to control expenditures; to control fierce tribes. Govern implies the constant use of knowledge and judgment, like the close attention given by a pilot to his wheel. To regulate is to bring under rules, hence to make exact; it is not ordinarily used to express continued action, but it may mean to keep under rule : as, to regulate a watch, one's movements, one's conduct, the administration of a province. Manage enlarges the notion of handling a horse or caring for the affairs of a household to greater things, as a ship, a business, a nation; it implies great attention to details, constant watchfulness, and much skill or at least adroitness; it is rather a small word to be used as a synonym for govern. See guide, transitive verb, and manage.
4. To exercise or have control; practise direction or guidance; especially, to exercise legal or customary authority.

Wiktionary

1. v. transitive To make and administer the public policy and affairs of; to exercise sovereign authority in.
2. v. transitive To control the actions or behavior of; to keep under control; to restrain.
3. v. transitive To exercise a deciding or determining influence on.
4. v. transitive To control the speed, flow etc. of; to regulate.
5. v. intransitive To exercise political authority; to run a government.
6. v. intransitive To have or exercise a determining influence.
7. v. transitive To require that a certain preposition, grammatical case, etc. be used with a word; sometimes used synonymously with collocate.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. To direct and control, as the actions or conduct of men, either by established laws or by arbitrary will; to regulate by authority.
2. v. To regulate; to influence; to direct; to restrain; to manage
3. v. (Gram.) To require to be in a particular case; ; or to require (a particular case).
4. v. To exercise authority; to administer the laws; to have the control.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. bring into conformity with rules or principles or usage; impose regulations
2. v. direct or strongly influence the behavior of
3. v. exercise authority over; as of nations
4. v. require to be in a certain grammatical case, voice, or mood