provost

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A university administrator of high rank.
• noun The highest official in certain cathedrals or collegiate churches.
• noun The keeper of a prison.
• noun The chief magistrate of certain Scottish cities.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun One who is appointed to superintend or preside over something; the chief or head of certain bodies.
• noun The keeper of a prison; a chief jailer.
• noun Formerly, one holding a position in the English schools of fence higher than that of scholar and lower than that of master.
• noun A temporary prison in which the military police confine prisoners until they are disposed of.
• noun In the navy, an officer who is charged with the safe-keeping of a prisoner, pending his trial by a court martial, and who is responsible for his production before the court whenever his presence is required.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun A person who is appointed to superintend, or preside over, something; the chief magistrate in some cities and towns
• noun obsolete The keeper of a prison.
• noun (Mil.), (Nav.) An officer who has charge of prisoners on trial by court-martial, serves notices to witnesses, etc.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun Scottish local government The equivalent of mayor in some Scottish cities.
• noun higher education A senior academic administrator; sometimes called the Vice-President of Academic Affairs.
• noun religion The highest position in a monastery below an abbot.
• noun A prison keeper, especially in the military.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun a high-ranking university administrator