governor

/ˈgʌv(ə)nər/

/ˈgʌvənə/

Other forms: governors

A governor leads a state government, just like a president leads a national government.

If you know that governing means to be in charge of something, that should help you remember what a governor is. Just as mayors run cities and presidents and prime ministers run countries, governors run states. A governor is elected for a term, has a vice governor, and deals with a legislature, just like the U.S. President. Governor is a very important title in the U.S., and many governors — such as Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush — have gone on to become U.S. presidents.

Definitions of governor

1. noun

   the head of a state government
   types:

   bey

   the governor of a district or province in the Ottoman Empire

   eparch

   the governor or prefect of an eparchy in ancient Greece

   governor general

   a governor of high rank

   military governor

   the head of a government established by the military (as in a defeated country)

   nabob, nawab

   a governor in India during the Mogul empire

   proconsul

   a provincial governor of consular rank in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire

   satrap

   a governor of a province in ancient Persia

   vicereine, viceroy

   governor of a country or province who rules as the representative of his or her king or sovereign

   burgrave

   the military governor of a German town in the 12th and 13th centuries

   exarch

   a viceroy who governed a large province in the Roman Empire

   Khedive

   one of the Turkish viceroys who ruled Egypt between 1867 and 1914

   margrave

   the military governor of a frontier province in medieval Germany

   type of:

   politician

   a leader engaged in civil administration
2. noun

   a control that maintains a steady speed in a machine (as by controlling the supply of fuel)
   synonyms: regulator

   types:

   flywheel

   regulator consisting of a heavy wheel that stores kinetic energy and smooths the operation of a reciprocating engine

   timer

   a regulator that activates or deactivates a mechanism at set times

   fluid flywheel

   a kind of fluid coupling in which the flywheel is the driving rotor

   type of:

   control, controller

   a mechanism that controls the operation of a machine