Governor

Governor
Governor Gov"ern*or, n. [OE. governor, governour, OF. governeor, F. gouverneur, fr. L. gubernator steersman, ruler, governor. See {Govern}.] 1. One who governs; especially, one who is invested with the supreme executive authority in a State; a chief ruler or magistrate; as, the governor of Pennsylvania. ``The governor of the town.'' --Shak. [1913 Webster]

2. One who has the care or guardianship of a young man; a tutor; a guardian. [1913 Webster]

3. (Naut.) A pilot; a steersman. [R.] [1913 Webster]

4. (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.

Note: The illustration shows a form of governor commonly used for steam engines, in wich a heavy sleeve (a) sliding on a rapidly revolving spindle (b), driven by the engine, is raised or lowered, when the speed varies, by the changing centrifugal force of two balls (c c) to which it is connected by links (d d), the balls being attached to arms (e e) which are jointed to the top of the spindle. The sleeve is connected with the throttle valve or cut-off through a lever (f), and its motion produces a greater supply of steam when the engine runs too slowly and a less supply when too fast. [1913 Webster]

{Governor cut-off} (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.

{Hydraulic governor} (Mach.), a governor which is operated by the action of a liquid in flowing; a cataract. [1913 Webster]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.

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  • governor — gov‧er‧nor [ˈgʌvnə ǁ ərnər] noun [countable] 1. JOBS FINANCE the person in charge of an important organization such as a country s central bank: • the governor of the Bank of England 2. a member of the committee in control of an institution such …   Financial and business terms

  • governor — gov·er·nor / gə vər nər/ n: one that governs: as a: one that exercises authority esp. over an area or group b: an official elected or appointed to act as ruler, chief executive, or nominal head of a political unit; specif: the chief executive of… …   Law dictionary

  • governor — c.1300, gouernour, personal keeper, protector, guide, from O.Fr. governeor (11c., Mod.Fr. gouverneur) and directly from L. gubernatorem (nom. gubernator) director, ruler, governor, originally steersman, pilot (see GOVERN (Cf. govern)). Meaning… …   Etymology dictionary

  • governor — [guv′ə nər, guv′ərnər] n. [ME governour < OFr governeor < L gubernator, a pilot, steersman, governor] 1. a person who governs; esp., a) a person appointed to govern a dependency, province, town, fort, etc. ☆ b) the elected head of any state …   English World dictionary

  • Governor — (engl., spr. gowwĕrnĕr), s. Gouverneur …   Kleines Konversations-Lexikon

  • governor — [n] person administrating government administrator, boss, chief, chief of state, commander, comptroller, controller, director, executive, gubernatorial leader, guv*, head, head honcho*, leader, manager, overseer, presiding officer, ruler,… …   New thesaurus

  • governor — ► NOUN 1) an official appointed to govern a town or region. 2) the elected executive head of a US state. 3) the representative of the British Crown in a colony or in a Commonwealth state that regards the monarch as head of state. 4) the head of a …   English terms dictionary

  • Governor — For other uses, see governor (disambiguation). A governor (from French gouverneur) is a governing official, usually the executive (at least nominally, to different degrees also politically and administratively) of a non sovereign level of… …   Wikipedia

  • governor — /guv euhr neuhr, euh neuhr/, n. 1. the executive head of a state in the U.S. 2. a person charged with the direction or control of an institution, society, etc.: the governors of a bank; the governor of a prison. 3. Also called governor general.… …   Universalium

  • governor —    Probably the most frequent use of this term is in various parts of Britain, where working class men use it to address another man, usually one who is unknown to them. In his book The Cockney, Julian Franklyn writes:    ‘Guv’ner’, generally so… …   A dictionary of epithets and terms of address

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