Word Origin Atlas

Exact historical dictionary sense

Governor in Webster's 1913 dictionary

The 1913 record labels governor as noun. Its source-bounded etymology and selected historical definition appear below.

WEBSTER 1913noun
Governor

[OE. governor, governour, OF. governeor, F. gouverneur, fr. L. gubernator steersman, ruler, governor. See Govern.]

Cross-verified historical sense
The source text may be outdated. The page preserves that historical boundary.
Cross-verified 1913 record
Headwordgovernor
Part of speechnoun
Historical etymology[OE. governor, governour, OF. governeor, F. gouverneur, fr. L. gubernator steersman, ruler, governor. See Govern.]
Selected historical definitionOne 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.
Signed record IDwebster1913-governor-noun-9495e9638b99
Source locatorCIDE.G, paragraph 4598; Gutenberg eBook 663
Edition-scoped answerNot earliest-attestation proofNot modern consensus
Independent historical textProject Gutenberg section 663Signed structural record sourceGNU GCIDE 0.54 archive
Quick answer

In Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), "governor" is labeled noun. Its etymology is recorded as: "[OE. governor, governour, OF. governeor, F. gouverneur, fr. L. gubernator steersman, ruler, governor. See Govern.]" The selected historical definition says: "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."

Project Gutenberg Webster 1913 plus signed GNU GCIDE 0.54 Exact cross-verified historical record reviewed 2026-10-04

What this answer proves

One named sense in one historical dictionary edition.

The answer reports the selected headword, part of speech, etymology, definition, and source locator as transcribed in the cross-verified 1913 record.

Evidence boundaryIt does not establish the earliest attestation or a complete borrowing chain.It does not claim current scholarly consensus or a modern dictionary definition.Historical dictionary text may be obsolete, incomplete, inaccurate, or offensive by modern standards.

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Webster 1913 exact recordverb

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Webster 1913 exact recordnoun

Ground

[OE. ground, grund, AS. grund; akin to D. grond, OS., G., Sw., & Dan. grund, Icel. grunnr bottom, Goth. grundus (in composition); perh. orig. meaning, dust, gravel, and if so perh. akin to E. grind.]

Webster 1913 exact recordadjective

Grand

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Webster 1913 exact record

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