Definition of "provost" []

• A university administrator of high rank. (noun)
• The highest official in certain cathedrals or collegiate churches. (noun)
• The keeper of a prison. (noun)
• The chief magistrate of certain Scottish cities. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "At present the chief dignity of a chapter is usually styled dean, though in some countries, as in England, the term provost is applied to him."
• "At Taunton, the rebels killed, in their fury, an officious and eager commissioner of the subsidy, whom they called the provost of Perin."
• "A distinguished professor and well-known expert on New Mexico politics, Garcia served from 1987 to 1990 as vice president of academic affairs, a position now called provost."