governable 
The causes of these effects remain unknown, ao as not 
to be governable by human nif;ms. 
Bacon, Physical Fables, x., Expl. note. 
It [the storm | came on very fierce, and we kept right be- 
fore the wind and sea, the wind still increasing : the ship 
was very governable and steered incomparably well, 
Dumpier, Voyages, III., an. 1099. 
So little a while ago that face had moved with every 
change of sentiment, that pale mouth had spoken, that 
lindy had been all on fire with governable energies. 
li. L, Stevenson, Markheim. 
go vernableness (guv ' er - na - bl - nes), n. The 
state or quality of being governable. 
governailt, [< ME. governail, governaille, 
gnrcrnayle, < OF. governail, gom-ernail, F. gon- 
n I'iKiil, m. (OF. also governaile, governaille, f.), 
direction, = Sp. gobernalle, gobernallo = Pg. 
governalhe, goveniatho = It. gubcriiacolo, gober- 
naculo, < L. gubernaculum, the helm or rudder 
of a ship, direction, government, < gubernare, 
steer, direct, govern : see govern, .] 1. A rud- 
der ; a helm. 
Lo ! shippes . . . sotheli they ben born aboute of a litel 
governayle. Wyclif, Jas. iii. 4. 
2. Government; management; mastery. 
Sharply tak on yow the governaille. 
Chaucer, Clerk's Tale, 1. 1136. 
Other gift here hens shall by no gouernattl; 
Then grett mischaunce to purchace and haue. 
Bom, of Partenay (E. E. T. S.), 1. 5561. 
He of this dunlin had the governail. 
Spenser, F. Q., II. xii. 48. 
governance (guv'er-nans), n. [< ME. gover- 
nance, governaunce, <"OF. governance, gouver- 
nanee, F. gouvernance = Pg. governanca, < ML. 
gubernantia, < L. gubernare, govern : see govern, 
t\] 1. Government; exercise of authority ; di- 
rection: control; management. [Now chiefly 
poetical.] 
The first determination of God for the attainment of his 
end must needs be creation, and the next unto it gover- 
nance. Hooker, Eccles. Polity, v., App. 1. 
Under the Angel's governance benign 
The happy island danced with corn and wine. 
Longfellow, Wayside Inn, Sicilian's Tale. 
Why should we venture teach Him [God] governance ? 
Brovming, King and Book, II. 41. 
2f. Behavior; manners. 
Perilous fallyngis of his placis, to myche abstynence, 
and othere yuel gouernaunce agens kynde. 
Book of Quints Essence (ed. Furnivall), p. 1. 
He likest is to fall into mischaunce 
That is regardles of his governaunce. 
Spenser, Muiopotmos, 1. 384. 
governante (guv'er-nant), n. [< F. gouvernantc 
(= Sp. gobernante = Pg. governante = It. gover- 
nante), a governor's wife, a governess, a house- 
keeper, fern, of gouvernant, ppr. of gounerner, 
govern: see govern, v.~\ A woman who has the 
care and management of children or of a house ; 
a governess. [Obsolete or archaic.] 
I saw Envy there drest up in a widow's veil, and the very 
picture of the governante of one of your nobleman's houses. 
Sir Jt. L' Estrange, tr. of Quevedo's Visions, p. 38. 
Appears the Governante of th' House ; 
For such In Greece were much in use. 
Prior, Protogenes and Apelles. 
governationt, n. [< ME. govei-nacioun, < OF. 
governacion, gouvernacion = Sp. gobernacion = 
Pg. governacao = It. governazione, < ML. as if 
*gubernatlo(n-), < L. gubernare, govern : see gov- 
ern and -ation.] Management; control. 
Aron, that hadde the temple in governacioun. 
Chaucer, Summoner's Tale, 1. 186. 
governess (guv'er-nes), n. [< govern + -ess.'] 
1. A woman invested with authority to con- 
trol and direct ; a female ruler : also used fig- 
uratively. 
Most select Princesse, . . . most wise gouernesse of all 
the affaires and businesses of the people. 
Hakluyt's Voyages, II. 296. 
A matron's sober staidness in her eye, 
And all the other grave demeanour fitting 
The governess of a house. 
Middleton, Anything for a Quiet Life, L 1. 
The moon, the governess of floods, 
Pale in her anger, washes all the air, 
That rheumatic diseases do abound. 
Shak., M. N. D., ii. 2. 
Great affliction that severe governess of the life of man 
brings upon those souls she seizes on. 
Dr. H. More, Antidote against Atheism. 
Specifically 2. A woman who has the care of 
instructing and directing children ; an instruc- 
tress: generally applied to one who teaches 
children in their own homes. 
Mrs. Sydney turned school-mistress, to educate my girls, 
as I could not afford a governes*. 
Sydney Smith, in Lady Holland, vli. 
governess (guv'er-nes), n. [< governess, n.] 
I. intrans. To play the governess ; act as gov- 
erness : as, to go out governessing. [Colloq.] 
2585 
"You will give up your governessing slavery at once." 
"Indeed ! begging your pardon, sir, I shall not. I shall 
go on with it as usual." 
Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, xxiv. 
II. trans. To control or direct as a gover- 
ness. 
Tutored and governessed out of all the pleasantness of 
being natural. Contemporary Rev., XLIX. 855. 
government (guv'ern-ment), n. [Not in ME. 
(where the equiv. word was governance, q. v.); 
< OF. governement, gouvernement, F. gouverne- 
ment = Pr. governament = OSp. gubernamiento 
= Pg. It. governamento, < ML. as if 'guberna- 
mentum, government, < L. gubernare, govern: 
see govern and -ment.~\ 1. Guidance; direc- 
tion; regulation; management; control: as, 
the government of one's conduct. 
The house of God must have orders for the government 
of it, such as not any of the household but God himself 
hath appointed. Hooker, Eccles. Polity, iii. 11. 
Thy eyes' windows [shall] fall, 
Like death, when he shuts up the day of life ; 
Each part, depriv'd of supple government,, 
Shall, stilt, and stark, and cold, appear like death. 
Shak.,R. and J., iv. 1. 
2. The exercise of authority in the adminis- 
tration of the affairs of a state, community, or 
society; the authoritative direction and re- 
straint exercised over the actions of men in 
communities, societies, or states. 
Why has government been instituted at all ? Because 
the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of 
reason and justice without constraint. 
A. Hamilton, Federalist, No. 15. 
Man is so constituted that government is necessary to 
the existence of society, and society to his existence, and 
the perfection of his faculties. Calhoun, Works, I. 4. 
Government exists for the purpose of keeping the peace, 
for the purpose of compelling us to settle our disputes by 
arbitration instead of settling them by blows, for the pur- 
pose of compelling us to supply our wants by industry in- 
stead of supplying them by rapine. 
Macaulay, Disabilities of Jews. 
3. The system of polity or body of principles 
and rules by which the affairs of a state, com- 
munity, or society are administered; an es- 
tablished or prescribed method of guiding, di- 
recting, or managing affairs : as, representative 
or constitutional government; monarchical or 
republican government; the presbyterian, epis- 
copal, or congregational form of church govern- 
ment. 
The government of the United States is a limited govern- 
ment, instituted for great national purposes, and for those 
only. T. H. Benton, Thirty Years, I. 25. 
4. The governing body of persons in a state or 
community; the executive power; the admin- 
istration. In Great Britain government is used spe- 
cifically to signify the cabinet or ministry, apart from the 
sovereign ; and in speaking of any joint action of this body 
the article is often omitted : as, the Liberal government 
was defeated by a large majority ; government brought in 
a bill. 
The Cabinet, the body to which in common use we have 
latterly come to give the name of Government, is simply 
a body of those privy councillors who are specially sum- 
moned. Kncyc. Brit., VIII. 297. 
5. A state or body politic governed by one 
authority; a province or division of territory 
ruled by a governor. Specifically (a) One of the 
military divisions of France before the revolution. (&) 
In Russia, a province or governorship : as, the govern- 
ment of Perm. 
For the purposes of territorial administration Russia 
Proper ... is divided into forty -six provinces or Govern- 
ments (gubernii). Z>. M. Wallace, Russia, p. 198. 
6. Right of governing; administrative author- 
ity ; the office or function of one charged with 
the direction and control of affairs. 
Warwick, . . . 
I here resign my government to thee, 
For thou art fortunate in all thy deeds. 
Shak., 3 Hen. VI., iv. 6. 
7f. Conduct or behavior; self-control or re- 
straint. 
Yet oftentimes it doth present harsh rage, 
Defect of manners, want of government, 
Pride, haughtiness, opinion, and disdain. 
SAat.,lHen. IV., iii. 1. 
How did the University applaud 
Thy government, behaviour, learning, speech, 
Sweetness, and all that could make up a man ! 
Ford, Tis Pity, i. 1. 
8. In gram., the established usage which re- 
quires that one word in a sentence should cause 
another to be of a particular form ; grammati- 
cal regimen. 
governmental (guv-em-men'tal), a. [< govern- 
ment + -al.~\ Of or pertaining to government 
or the government; given, made, or issued by 
the government: as, (/owrnwentoUnterference 
governor 
with trade; governmental order; governmental 
policy. 
Upon the accession of the Hanoverian dynasty, how- 
ever, Governmental encouragement of literature almost 
absolutely ceased. Lrckij, Eng. in 18th Cent., iii. 
There is no more possibility of intervention, or of gov- 
ernmental aid. Contemporary Rev., LII. 731. 
Governmental theory of the atonement. See atone- 
ment, 3 (a). 
governor (guv'er-nor), n. [Also governour; < 
ME. governor, usually governour, < OF. gover- 
neor, governour, governur, gouvernour, gouver- 
neur, F. gouverneur = Pr. governador = Sp. 
gobernador = Pg. governador = It. governatore, 
< L. gubernator, a steersman, pilot, director, 
governor, < gubernare, steer, pilot, direct: see 
govern, v.~\ If. A steersman ; a pilot. 
Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, 
and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about 
with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth. 
Jas. iii. 4. 
2. The person invested with the supreme ex- 
ecutive power in a state or community; spe- 
cifically, as a personal title, the chief magis- 
trate of a state or province : as, the governor of 
Connecticut; the governor of Newfoundland. 
As a title, abbreviated Gov. 
Her grace [Queen Elizabeth] likewise on her side, in al 
her graces passage, shewed herselfe generallye an image 
of a worthy lady and gouernour. 
Fabyan, Chron., an. 1559. 
To-day the Governor is everywhere chosen by the peo- 
ple directly, instead of through the Legislature ; his term 
has generally been much lengthened. 
Johns Hopkins Hist. Studies, III. 477. 
3. One who is charged with the direction or 
control of an undertaking or institution: as, 
the governors of the Bank of England ; the gov- 
ernor of a prison or hospital. 
Therle of Northumberland should be chefetaine and 
supreme gouernour of the armie. Hall, Hen. IV. , an. 6. 
Out of Machir came down governors, and out of Zebnlnn 
they that handle the pen of the writer. Judges v. 14. 
These seven angels are, by antiquity, called the seven 
governors or bishops of the seven churches. 
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), II. 160. 
4. A tutor; one who has the care of a young 
man ; one who instructs a pupil and forms his 
manners. Compare governess, 2. [Obsolete or 
rare.] 
And thus by the Chylde yee shall perceiue the disposy- 
tion of the Gouernour. ISabeex Book(E. E. T. S.), p. 63. 
The great work of a governour is to fashion the carriage 
and form the mind. Locke, Education, 94. 
5. A father; a master or superior ; an employ- 
er; an elderly person. [Slang.] 6. In mach., 
a self-acting regulator which controls a supply 
of steam, gas, or water; especially, any device 
for automatically regulating the amount of 
power developed in a machine, as in a steam- 
engine. Governors are made in a variety of forms and 
with different methods of action. A form of governor 
for the steam-engine which illustrates well the general 
function of such devices is shown in the annexed figure. 
It represents a spindle kept in motion by the engine. .1 
and B are two centrifugal balls, C A and C B the rods which 
suspend the halls, crossing each other and passing through 
the spindle atC, where 
the whole is connect- 
ed by a round pin put 
through the spindle 
and the rods, and 
serving as the point 
of suspension for 
the centrifugal balls 
or revolving pen- 
dulums. A piece of 
brass, M, is fitted to 
slide up and down up- 
on the upper part of 
the spindle, and to this 
piece the end of the 
lever N 0, whose ful- 
crum is at /', is at- 
tached. This piece of 
brass is also connect- 
ed with the ball-rods 
by two short pieces 
and joints, D E, F G. 
When the engine goes 
too fast, the balls fly further asunder and depress the end A* 
of the lever, which partly shuts a throttle-valve connected 
with the end O, and thus diminishes the quantity of steam 
admitted into the cylinder; and on the other hand, when 
the engine goes too slowly, the halls fall down toward the 
spindle and elevate the end X of the lever, which opens the 
throttle-valve wider, and increases the quantity of steam 
admitted into the cylinder, thus causing it to be propor- 
tioned to the resistance of the engine, and keeping the va- 
riation of velocity within narrow limits. A similar contri- 
vance is employed in mills to equalize the motion of the 
machinery. When any part of the machinery is sudden- 
ly started or checked, and the moving power remains 
the same, an alteration in the velocity of the mill will 
take place, which alteration the governor serves to limit. 
See gat governor. Atmospheric, chronometric, etc., 
governor. See the adjectives. Electric governor, in 
inach. : (a) A governor in which the spread of revolv- 
ing balls or the spread of the rim of a wheel by centrifu- 
Governor of a Steam-engine. 
