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ust by rule, method, or established mode; to direct by rule or restriction; to subject to governing principles or laws. The laws which regulate the successions of the seasons. Macaulay. The herdsmen near the frontier adjudicated their own disputes, and regulated their own police. Bancroft.

A rule or order prescribed for management or government; prescription; a regulating principle; a governing direction; precept; law; as, the regulations of a society or a school. Regulation sword, cap, uniform, etc. (Mil.), a sword, cap, uniform, etc., of the kind or quality prescribed by the official regulations.…

ctive length of the hairspring, and thus regulates the vibrations of the balance. (b) The governor of a steam engine. (c) A valve for controlling the admission of steam to the steam chest, in a locomotive.

To regulate; to govern. [Obs.]

To possess or exercise sovereign power or authority; to exercise government, as a king or emperor;; to hold supreme power; to rule. Chaucer. We will not have this man to reign over us. Luke xix. 14. Shall Banquo's issue ever Reign in this kingdom Shak.

p of a bridle, fastened to the curb or snaffle on each side, by which the rider or driver governs the horse. This knight laid hold upon his reyne. Chaucer.

Not having, or not governed by, reins; hence, not checked or restrained.

To abate in severity; to become less rigorous. In others she relaxed again, And governed with a looser rein. Prior.

especially, the act of surrender, as of fugitives from justice, at the claim of a foreign government; also, surrender in war. The rest of these brave men that suffered in cold blood after articles of rendition. Evelyn.

In France, interest payable by government on indebtedness; the bonds, shares, stocks, etc.,, which represent government indebtedness.

e to a former place, position, condition, or the like. The earl . . . was replaced in his government. Bacon.

by persons chosen to represent, or act as deputies for, the people; as, a representative government.

One who favors or prefers a republican form of government.

A republican form or system of government; the principles or theory of republican government.

A formal demand made by one state or government upon another for the surrender or extradition of a fugitive from justice. Kent.

court or trial held, sometimes as long as six months, by a newly elected official, as the governor of a province, to examine into the conduct of a predecessor.

wishes or will, or of something valued; -- also often used reflexively. I here resign my government to thee. Shak. Lament not, Eve, but patiently resign What justly thou hast lost. Milton. What more reasonable, than that we should in all things resign up ourselves to the will of God Tiilotson.

not mean; as, a respectable citizen. "The respectable quarter of Sicca." J. H. Newman. No government, any more than an individual, will long be respected, without being truly respectable. Madison.

y, are relieved from active service, but still receive a specified amount of pay from the government. -- Re*tired"ly, adv. -- Re*tired"ness, n.

An officer, steward, or governor. [Usually written reeve.] [Obs.] Piers Plowman.