Definition of "govern"

govern

/ˈɡʌvən/

verb
third-person singular simple present governs, present participle governing, simple past and past participle governed
1. (transitive) To make and administer the public policy and affairs of; to exercise sovereign authority in.
2. (intransitive) To exercise political authority; to run a government.
3. (transitive) To control the actions or behavior of; to keep under control; to restrain.
  Quotations
  Find the strength, courage, and discipline to govern yourself or be governed by someone else.
  2016, Justin Deschamps, Find the strength, courage, and discipline to govern yourself or be governed by someone else.
4. (transitive) To exercise a deciding or determining influence on.
5. (intransitive) To have or exercise a determining influence.
6. (transitive, obsolete) To handle, to manage, to oversee (a matter, an affair, a household, etc.).
7. (transitive) To control the speed, flow etc. of; to regulate.
  Quotations
  The weight and c.g. of the aircraft were within limits at takeoff and were calculated to have remained so until the tail began to disintegrate in flight. Both engines were developing a high level of power at impact, and the APU was rotating at or near governed speed. The landing gear, flaps, and spoiler/speed brakes were retracted. There was no evidence of structural or system failures other than those directly resulting from the fire.
  1968 April 18, National Transportation Safety Board, “2.1 Analysis”, in Aircraft Accident Report: Mohawk Airlines, Inc., BAC 1-11, N1116J, Near Blossburg, Pennsylvania, June 23, 1967‎, archived from the original on 24 June 2022, page 33
8. (transitive, obsolete) To direct the course of, to guide in some direction, to steer.
9. (transitive, obsolete) To look after, to take care of, to tend to (someone or some plant).
  Quotations
  from my vncles country of Medea,Where all my youth I haue bene gouerned, […]
  c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, (please specify the page)
10. (transitive, obsolete) To manage, to control, to work (a tool or mechanical device).
11. (transitive, grammar) To require that a certain preposition, grammatical case, etc. be used with a word; sometimes used synonymously with collocate.
noun
plural governs
1. The act of governing

Definition of "govern"

govern

verb

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

noun