Definition of: provost

(prov′əst) noun
1. A person having charge or authority over others.
2. The chief magistrate of a Scottish city, corresponding to the English mayor: in Edinburgh, Dundee, Glasgow, and Aberdeen called Lord Provost.
3. In some English and American colleges, the head of the faculty.
4. The head of a collegiate chapter or a cathedral; a dean.
5. (prō′vō) Provost marshal. [Fusion of OE profost, prafost and AF. OF provost, both <LL propositus <L praepositus a prefect, orig. pp. of praeponere <prae- before + ponere place]
—prov′ost·ship noun