Provost

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Provost \Prov"ost\, n. [OF. provost (L. prae and pro being
     confused), F. prev[^o]t, fr. L. praepositus placed before, a
     chief, fr. praeponere to place before: cf. AS. pr[=a]fost,
     pr[=o]fast. See {Preposition}, and cf. {Propound}.]
     1. A person who is appointed to superintend, or preside over,
        something; the chief magistrate in some cities and towns;


        as, the provost of Edinburgh or of Glasgow, answering to
        the mayor of other cities; the provost of a college,
        answering to president; the provost or head of certain
        collegiate churches.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. The keeper of a prison. [Obs.] --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: In France, formerly, a provost was an inferior judge
           who had cognizance of civil causes. The grand provost
           of France, or of the household, had jurisdiction in the
           king's house, and over its officers.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     {Provost marshal} (often pronounced ?).
        (a) (Mil.) An officer appointed in every army, in the
            field, to secure the prisoners confined on charges of
            a general nature. He also performs such other duties
            pertaining to police and discipline as the regulations
            of the service or the commander's orders impose upon
            him.
        (b) (Nav.) An officer who has charge of prisoners on trial
            by court-martial, serves notices to witnesses, etc.
            [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  provost
       n : a high-ranking university administrator

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  33 Moby Thesaurus words for "provost":
     academic dean, administration, administrator, archon, chancellor,
     chief executive, chief executive officer, dean, dean of men,
     dean of women, executive, executive director, executive officer,
     executive secretary, headmaster, headmistress, magistrate,
     management, managing director, master, officer, official, prefect,
     president, prexy, principal, rector, secretary, the administration,
     treasurer, vice-chancellor, vice-president, warden
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  PROVOST. A title given to the chief of some corporations or societies. In 
  France, this title was formerly given to some presiding judges. The word is 
  derived from the Latin praepositus.