govern
Part of speech: verb
noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: grammar
human-sciences
linguistics
sciences
Etymology: From Middle English governen, governe, from Anglo-Norman and Old French governer, guverner, from Latin gubernō, from Ancient Greek κυβερνάω (kubernáō, “to steer, drive, govern”). Displaced native Old English wealdan, whence modern dialectical English wald (“to govern”).
Inflected forms:
form: governs
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: governing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: governed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: governed
pos: verb
tags: past
form: governs
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: To make and administer the public policy and affairs of; to exercise sovereign authority in.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: The old king governed the land wisely.
gloss: To exercise political authority; to run a government.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: Americans are not libertarians in the Cato Institute sense of the word, but they are folk libertarians in this sense of impulsive behaviour, which is a feature of American life that anyone who wants to govern the United States, Democratic or Republican, has to be aware of.
gloss: To control the actions or behavior of; to keep under control; to restrain.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Govern yourselves like civilized people.
a student who could not govern his impulses
Find the strength, courage, and discipline to govern yourself or be governed by someone else.
This female hyena also gets erections and is larger, more aggressive than the male hyenas and lives in matrilineal clans of up to 80 individuals governed by an alpha female matriarch.
gloss: To exercise a deciding or determining influence on.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Chance governs the outcome of many card games.
gloss: To have or exercise a determining influence.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
gloss: To handle, to manage, to oversee (a matter, an affair, a household, etc.).
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
gloss: To control the speed, flow etc. of; to regulate.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: a valve that governs fuel intake
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.
gloss: To direct the course of, to guide in some direction, to steer.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
gloss: To look after, to take care of, to tend to (someone or some plant).
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: from my vncles country of Medea,
Where all my youth I haue bene gouerned, […]
gloss: To manage, to control, to work (a tool or mechanical device).
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
gloss: To require that a certain preposition, grammatical case, etc. be used with a word.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: In Latin (Russian, German, etc.), not only verbs, but also prepositions, may govern the noun, pronoun or noun-phrase dependent upon them in a particular case: e.g. ad urbem, ‘to the city’ (ad ‘takes the accusative’: urbem) v. ab urbe, ‘from the city’ (ab ‘takes the ablative’: urbe).
gloss: The act of governing
pos: noun
Related words: governance
governess
government
governor
Derived words: cogovern
e-govern
governable
governate
governee
governless
misgovern
overgovern
self-govern
Translations:
lang: Afrikaans
word: bepaal
lang: Bulgarian
word: влия́я
roman: vlijája
lang: Czech
word: řídit
lang: Danish
word: bestemme
lang: Dutch
word: bepalen
lang: Finnish
word: määrätä
lang: German
word: lenken
lang: Ancient Greek
word: εὐθύνω
roman: euthúnō
lang: Hungarian
word: meghatároz
lang: Hungarian
word: irányít
lang: Romanian
word: conduce
lang: Romanian
word: dirija
lang: Romanian
word: cârmui
lang: Russian
word: влия́ть
roman: vlijátʹ
lang: Ukrainian
word: вплива́ти
roman: vplyváty