Definitions

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

  • noun A person who governs, especially.
  • noun The chief executive of a state in the United States.
  • noun An official appointed to govern a colony or territory.
  • noun A member of a governing body.
  • noun The manager or administrative head of an organization, business, or institution.
  • noun A military commandant.
  • noun Chiefly British Used as a form of polite address for a man.
  • noun A feedback device on a machine or engine that is used to provide automatic control, as of speed, pressure, or temperature.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A steersman; a pilot.
  • noun The person invested with the supreme executive power in a state or community; specifically, as a personal title, the chief magistrate of a state or province: as, the governor of Connecticut; the governor of Newfoundland. As a title, abbreviated Gov.
  • noun One who is charged with the direction or control of an undertaking or institution: as, the governors of the Bank of England; the governor of a prison or hospital.
  • noun A tutor; one who has the care of a young man; one who instructs a pupil and forms his manners. Compare governess, 2.
  • noun A father; a master or superior; an employer; an elderly person.
  • noun In machinery, a self-acting regulator which controls a supply of steam, gas, or water; especially, any device for automatically regulating the amount of power developed in a machine, as in a steamengine.
  • noun See the adjectives.
  • noun The regulator used in arc-lamps to control the current. See regulator.

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

  • noun One who governs; especially, one who is invested with the supreme executive authority in a State; a chief ruler or magistrate.
  • noun One who has the care or guardianship of a young man; a tutor; a guardian.
  • noun (Naut.), rare A pilot; a steersman.
  • noun (Mach.) A contrivance applied to steam engines, water wheels, and other machinery, to maintain nearly uniform speed when the resistances and motive force are variable.
  • noun (Steam Engine) a variable cut-off gear in which the governor acts in such a way as to cause the steam to be cut off from entering the cylinder at points of the stroke dependent upon the engine's speed.
  • noun (Mach.) a governor which is operated by the action of a liquid in flowing; a cataract.

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

  • noun The leader of a region or state that is a member of a federation or an empire. In Rome, they were endorsed by the emperor and appointed by the Senate. In the modern United States, they are elected by the people of that state.
  • noun A device which regulates or controls some action of a machine through automatic feedback.
  • noun A member of a decision-making for an organization or entity (including some public agencies) similar to or equivalent to a board of directors (used especially for banks); a member of the board of governors.
  • noun informal father.
  • noun informal Boss, employer.

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

  • noun the head of a state government
  • noun a control that maintains a steady speed in a machine (as by controlling the supply of fuel)

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English govenour, from Old French gouvreneur, from Latin gubernator, from Ancient Greek κυβερνήτης (kybernetes, "steersman, pilot, guide"), from κυβερνάω (kybernao, "to steer, to drive, to guide, to act as a pilot").

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Examples

  • Governor David Paterson, happens to be a Democrat and both Black and Blind, the state's first African-American governor - and the first blind ­governor in America.

    British Blogs Anorak News 2010

  • Governor David Paterson, happens to be a Democrat and both Black and Blind, the state's first African-American governor - and the first blind ­governor in America.

    British Blogs Anorak News 2010

  • Brown is known to be unorthodox - he earned the moniker "governor moonbeam" during his first stint as governor from 1975 to 1983 - and he urged legislators to "rise above ideology and partisan interest" after taking the oath of office in January.

    SFGate: Top News Stories By MICHAEL R. BLOOD 2011

  • "Your governor is a welcher and a deadbeat," Giuliani said.

    Ehrlich's former foe seeks just desserts from O'Malley Ann Marimow 2010

  • And the governor is announcing that "The days of continuous taxation and the days of continuous spending have come to an end".

    Lance Mannion: 2010

  • Maybe the Massachusetts legislature could just pass a bill that says if the governor is a Democrat, the governor appoints the new Senator.

    Patrick supports Kennedy's wish for interim senator 2009

  • The Minnesota governor is the keynote speaker Saturday night at a major dinner hosted by the Republican Party of Florida.

    Pawlenty back in spotlight, again 2009

  • He added that the governor is also committed to keeping the power grid on the west side of the mountains flowing — the Centralia plant produces steam power — and making sure jobs are secure.

    Environmentalists See Bad Trend in Closed-Door Talks with Polluter « PubliCola 2010

  • Professor WILLIAM HALL (Political Science, Bradley University): In almost every state, the governor is an important part of the reapportionment process, which will be upcoming in 2011.

    GOP Has Chance To 'Plant Flag' In Obama's State 2010

  • And the governor is announcing that "The days of continuous taxation and the days of continuous spending have come to an end".

    Its still the economy, stupids! 2010

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