Search the Dictionary

The quality of being governable; manageableness.

Management; mastery. [Obs.] Chaucer. Spenser.

Exercise of authority; control; government; arrangement. Chaucer. J. H. Newman.

A governess. Sir W. Scott.

A female governor; a woman invested with authority to control and direct; especially, one intrusted with the care and instruction of children, -- usually in their homes.

Holding the superiority; prevalent; controlling; as, a governing wind; a governing party in a state. Jay.

The act of governing; the exercise of authority; the administration of laws; control; direction; regulation; as, civil, church, or family government.

Pertaining to government; made by government; as, governmental duties.

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.

A governor who has lieutenant or deputy governors under him; as, the governor general of Canada, of India.

The office of a governor.

Government. [Obs.]

To govern. [Obs.] Cockeram.

The act of governing; government [Obs.] I. Watts.

Governing. [Obs.]

Pertaining to a governor, or to government.

plant (Nerine Sarniensis) with handsome lilylike flowers, naturalized on the island of Guernsey.

A species of fern (Lomaria borealis), growing in Europe and Northwestern America.

A species of fern (Davallia Canariensis) with a soft, gray, hairy rootstock; -- whence the name.

A heron; esp., the common European heron. "A stately hern." Trench.