Dean

n.
  1. A dignitary or presiding officer in certain ecclesiastical and lay bodies; esp., an ecclesiastical dignitary, subordinate to a bishop.
  2. The collegiate officer in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, England, who, besides other duties, has regard to the moral condition of the college.
  3. The head or presiding officer in the faculty of some colleges or universities.
  4. A registrar or secretary of the faculty in a department of a college, as in a medical, or theological, or scientific department.
  5. The chief or senior of a company on occasion of ceremony; as, the dean of the diplomatic corps; -- so called by courtesy.
    6. Dean of cathedral church ,
    the chief officer of a chapter; he is an ecclesiastical magistrate next in degree to bishop, and has immediate charge of the cathedral and its estates.
    Dean of peculiars ,
    a dean holding a preferment which has some peculiarity relative to spiritual superiors and the jurisdiction exercised in it.
    Rural dean ,
    one having, under the bishop, the especial care and inspection of the clergy within certain parishes or districts of the diocese.