GOVERNOR
governor, regulator
(noun) a control that maintains a steady speed in a machine (as by controlling the supply of fuel)
governor
(noun) the head of a state government
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Noun
governor
(politics) The chief executive officer of a first-level division of a country.
A device which regulates or controls some action of a machine through automatic feedback.
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.
(informal) Father.
(informal) Boss, employer.
(grammar) A constituent of a phrase that governs another.
(dated) One who has the care or guardianship of a young man; a tutor; a guardian.
(nautical) A pilot; a steersman.
Synonyms
• (head of a province): viceroy (of large divisions of a kingdom or empire); proconsul (of Roman regions, historical); bailiff, seneschal, intendant (of French regions, historical); tao tai (obsolete), circuit intendant, intendant, daotai (of Chinese regions, historical); provost (obsolete); gubernator (humorous)
Noun
Governor (plural Governors)
The title for someone who holds the post of governor.
Source: Wiktionary
Gov"ern*or, n. Etym: [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.
2. One who has the care or guardianship of a young man; a tutor; a
guardian.
3. (Naut.)
Definition: A pilot; a steersman. [R.]
4. (Mach.)
Definition: 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. 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.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition