transitive verb

1. to exercise authority over; rule, administer, direct, control, manage, etc.
2. to influence the action or conduct of; guide; sway to govern public opinion
3. to hold in check; restrain; curb to govern one's temper
4. to regulate the speed of (an automobile, etc.) by means of a governor
5. to be a rule or law for; determine the scientific principles governing a phenomenon
6. Gram.: used as of prepositions with noun cases, esp. in highly inflected languages, and, in English, more loosely, of any interrelationship between forms, as that between a preposition and a following pronoun
   1. to require (a word) to be in a certain case or mood
   2. to require (a particular case or mood)

Etymology: ME governen < OFr gouverner < L gubernare, to pilot (a ship), direct, guide < Gr kybernan, to steer, govern, prob. of non-IE orig.

intransitive verb