- a person appointed to superintend or preside.
- an administrative officer in any of various colleges and universities who holds high rank and is concerned with the curriculum, faculty appointments, etc.
- the chief dignitary of a cathedral or collegiate church.
- the steward or bailiff of a medieval manor or an officer of a medieval administrative district.
- the mayor of a municipality in Scotland.
- a prison warden.
- an appointed person who superintends or presides
- the head of certain university colleges or schools
- (in Scotland) the chairman and civic head of certain district councils or (formerly) of a burgh council
- the senior dignitary of one of the more recent cathedral foundations
- RC Church
- the head of a cathedral chapter in England and some other countries
- (formerly) the member of a monastic community second in authority under the abbot
- (in medieval times) an overseer, steward, or bailiff in a manor
- a prison warder
- a military policeman
