DEAN

noun the head or presiding officer in the faculty of some colleges or universities.

2. dean ·noun the chief or senior of a company on occasion of ceremony; as, the dean of the diplomatic corps;

— so called by courtesy.

3. dean ·noun a registrar or secretary of the faculty in a department of a college, as in a medical, or theological, or scientific department.

4. dean ·noun a dignitary or presiding officer in certain ecclesiastical and lay bodies; ·esp., an ecclesiastical dignitary, subordinate to a bishop.

5. dean ·noun the collegiate officer in the universities of oxford and cambridge, england, who, besides other duties, has regard to the moral condition of the college.