chancellor

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun Any of various officials of high rank, especially.
• noun A secretary to a monarch or noble.
• noun Chiefly British The chief secretary of an embassy.
• noun The chief minister of state in some European countries.
• noun The president of certain American universities.
• noun Chiefly British The honorary or titular head of a university.
• noun Law The presiding judge of a court of chancery or equity in some states of the United States and in Great Britain.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun Originally, under the later Roman emperors, a doorkeeper or usher, who stood at the latticed railing inclosing the judgment-seat, to keep off the crowd and to introduce such persons as were entitled to pass inside.
• noun Hence A secretary; a notary.
• noun In Great Britain:
• noun The highest judicial officer of the crown, law adviser of the ministry, and keeper of the great seal: more fully designated lord high chancellor.
• noun An officer, officially styled chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, who presides in person or by deputy over the courts of law and equity in the duchy of Lancaster. He is usually a cabinet minister, and seldom a lawyer. The finance minister of the British government, more fully styled chancellor of the exchequer.
• noun In the jury system of Scotland, the preses or foreman of a jury, who announces the verdict when it is a verbal one, and who, when it is in writing, hands it in and indorses it, in the name of the jury, along with the clerk of the court.
• noun In France:
• noun The chief officer of the crown, charged with the custody of the great seal, the administration of justice, and the duty of presiding over the councils of the king. The office was abolished in 1790, revived in name by Napoleon I., and finally abolished in 1848.
• noun The chief officer of the palace of a queen or prince
• noun A secretary, especially of an embassy or a consulate.
• noun In the new German empire, the president of the Federal Council, who is also charged with the supreme direction, under the emperor, of all imperial affairs.
• noun The chief officer, next to the honorary head, of a military or honorable order, who guards its seal, administers its property, and preserves its records: as, the chancellor of the Order of the Garter.
• noun Eccles.:
• noun An officer learned in canon law, who acts as vicar-general to a bishop, holds his courts, and directs and advises him in all matters of ecclesiastical law, and is the keeper of his seals. More fully styled chancellor of a bishop or of a diocese.
• noun An officer belonging to a cathedral, who arranges the celebration of religious services, hears lessons, lectures in theology, writes letters of the chapter, applies the seal, keeps the books, etc.
• noun The titular head of a university, from whom all degrees are supposed to emanate.
• noun In Delaware, New Jersey, and some others of the United States, a judge of the Court of Chancery or Equity. In Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee there are district chancellors chosen by popular vote.
• noun In Scripture, a master of the decrees, or president of the council. Ezra iv. 8.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun A judicial court of chancery, which in England and in the United States is distinctively a court with equity jurisdiction.
• noun (R. C. Ch. & ch. of Eng.) a law officer appointed to hold the bishop's court in his diocese, and to assist him in matter of ecclesiastical law.
• noun one of the four chief dignitaries of the cathedrals of the old foundation, and an officer whose duties are chiefly educational, with special reference to the cultivation of theology.
• noun an officer before whom, or his deputy, the court of the duchy chamber of Lancaster is held. This is a special jurisdiction.
• noun the chief officer of a collegiate body. In Oxford, he is elected for life; in Cambridge, for a term of years; and his office is honorary, the chief duties of it devolving on the vice chancellor.
• noun a member of the British cabinet upon whom devolves the charge of the public income and expenditure as the highest finance minister of the government.
• noun an officer who seals the commissions and mandates of the chapter and assembly of the knights, keeps the register of their proceedings, and delivers their acts under the seal of their order.
• noun the presiding judge in the court of chancery, the highest judicial officer of the crown, and the first lay person of the state after the blood royal. He is created chancellor by the delivery into his custody of the great seal, of which he becomes keeper. He is privy counselor by his office, and prolocutor of the House of Lords by prescription.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun A judicial court of chancery, which in England and in the United States is distinctively a court with equity jurisdiction.
• noun Head of a chancery.
• noun An important notary; a person in charge of some area of government, often justice or finance.
• noun The head of a university, sometimes purely ceremonial.
• noun The head of parliamentary government in some German speaking countries.
• noun A record keeper for a diocese or equivalent religious area.
• noun Scotland Foreman of a jury.
• noun UK Chancellor of the Exchequer.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun the honorary or titular head of a university
• noun the person who is head of state (in several countries)
• noun the British cabinet minister responsible for finance