GOVERNOR • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Governor

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/gˈəvərnər/ Listen

noun

Governor n.

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."

2.

One who has the care or guardianship of a young man; a tutor; a guardian.

3.

(Naut.) A pilot; a steersman. (R.)

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.

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.

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Etymology of 'Governor'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Governor" Quotes from Famous Books

... Blanchflower," said the Swedish lady, boggling a little over the name. "Her father had been a governor of one of ...

— Delia Blanchflower • Mrs. Humphry Ward

... this quarter was soon carried; but a breach being found impracticable, the cannon were removed to a wood on the opposite side. They soon opened a considerable breach in the wall, and captured the place. Colonel Dalby, who was the governor, was killed during the siege. He had disguised himself in the dress of a common soldier, but being seen and known by a deserter, he was shot by him in the face as he walked in one of the stables. The hole through which the assailant introduced ...

— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, No. 576 - Vol. 20 No. 576., Saturday, November 17, 1832 • Various

... of August the English governor at Fort Augustus, alarmed at the vague reports which reached him, and the sudden news that bodies of armed Highlanders were hurrying west, sent a detachment of two companies under Captain Scott to reinforce the advance ...

— Bonnie Prince Charlie - A Tale of Fontenoy and Culloden • G. A. Henty

... Calvin, and the other reformers seized upon the word "propitiation," and made that the starting-point of their interpretation. According to these men, God is a great governor and man has broken the divine law—transgressors must be punished—if the man who breaks the law is not punished, somebody else must be punished in his stead. The Son of God, therefore, comes to earth to suffer in His person the punishment ...

— The World's Great Sermons, Volume 10 (of 10) • Various

... more or less swayed by the peculiar interests of the body to which they belong, the rector should be instructed, if he saw any flagrant swerving from an honest appraisement, to notify the same to his bishop, who, by application to the governor, if need were, could thereby rectify it. When the slave was thus valued, the valuation should be registered by the rector, in a book to be kept for that purpose, an attested copy of which should be annually lodged amongst the archives ...

— Tom Cringle's Log • Michael Scott

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