The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Governor \Gov"ern*or\, n. [OE. governor, governour, OF.
   governeor, F. gouverneur, fr. L. gubernator steersman, ruler,
   governor. See Govern.]
   1. One who governs; especially, one who is invested with the
      supreme executive authority in a State; a chief ruler or
      magistrate; as, the governor of Pennsylvania. "The
      governor of the town." --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. One who has the care or guardianship of a young man; a
      tutor; a guardian.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. (Naut.) A pilot; a steersman. [R.]
      [1913 Webster]

   4. (Mach.) A contrivance applied to steam engines, water
      wheels, and other machinery, to maintain nearly uniform
      speed when the resistances and motive force are variable.

   Note: The illustration shows a form of governor commonly used
         for steam engines, in wich a heavy sleeve (a) sliding
         on a rapidly revolving spindle (b), driven by the
         engine, is raised or lowered, when the speed varies, by
         the changing centrifugal force of two balls (c c) to
         which it is connected by links (d d), the balls being
         attached to arms (e e) which are jointed to the top of
         the spindle. The sleeve is connected with the throttle
         valve or cut-off through a lever (f), and its motion
         produces a greater supply of steam when the engine runs
         too slowly and a less supply when too fast.
         [1913 Webster]

   Governor cut-off (Steam Engine), a variable cut-off gear in
      which the governor acts in such a way as to cause the
      steam to be cut off from entering the cylinder at points
      of the stroke dependent upon the engine's speed.

   Hydraulic governor (Mach.), a governor which is operated by
      the action of a liquid in flowing; a cataract.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

governor
    n 1: the head of a state government
    2: a control that maintains a steady speed in a machine (as by
       controlling the supply of fuel) [syn: governor,
       regulator]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

161 Moby Thesaurus words for "governor":
   abba, administrator, aegis, agent, air warden, arm guard,
   attendant, backstop, beg, beglerbeg, bey, buffer, bull, bulwark,
   bumper, burgrave, captain, caretaker, castellan, chatelain,
   chatelaine, collector, commandant, commander, conductor,
   conservator, contraceptive, control, controller, copyright,
   crash helmet, curator, cushion, custodian, dad, daddy, dashboard,
   deputy, dey, directeur, director, dodger, eparch, exarch,
   executive, face mask, father, fender, finger guard, foot guard,
   forest ranger, foster father, fuse, game warden, gamekeeper,
   gaoler, gauleiter, genitor, goggles, governor-general, guard,
   guardian, guardian angel, guardrail, hand guard, handrail,
   hard hat, helmet, impresario, insulation, intendant, interlock,
   jailer, janitor, keeper, khedive, knee guard, knuckle guard,
   laminated glass, lieutenant governor, life preserver, lifeguard,
   lifeline, lifesaver, lightning conductor, lightning rod, manager,
   mask, master, mudguard, nabob, nawab, next friend, nose guard,
   old man, pa, pad, padding, palatine, palladium, pap, papa, pappy,
   patent, pater, paterfamilias, patriarch, pilot, pop, pops,
   preventive, principal keeper, prison guard, prochein ami,
   proconsul, producer, prophylactic, protective clothing,
   protective umbrella, provincial, ranger, rector, regulator,
   responsible person, ruler, safeguard, safety, safety glass,
   safety plug, safety rail, safety shoes, safety switch,
   safety valve, satrap, screen, screw, seat belt, servo control,
   servo regulator, shepherd, shield, shin guard, sire, stadtholder,
   stepfather, steward, subahdar, sun helmet, supercargo, tetrarch,
   the old man, turnkey, umbrella, vali, vice-king, viceroy, wali,
   warden, warder, windscreen, windshield



Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary:

Governor
   (1.) Heb. nagid, a prominent, conspicuous person, whatever his
   capacity: as, chief of the royal palace (2 Chr. 28:7; comp. 1
   Kings 4:6), chief of the temple (1 Chr. 9:11; Jer. 20:1), the
   leader of the Aaronites (1 Chr. 12:27), keeper of the sacred
   treasury (26:24), captain of the army (13:1), the king (1 Sam.
   9:16), the Messiah (Dan. 9:25).

     (2.) Heb. nasi, raised; exalted. Used to denote the chiefs of
   families (Num. 3:24, 30, 32, 35); also of tribes (2:3; 7:2;
   3:32). These dignities appear to have been elective, not
   hereditary.

     (3.) Heb. pakid, an officer or magistrate. It is used of the
   delegate of the high priest (2 Chr. 24:11), the Levites (Neh.
   11:22), a military commander (2 Kings 25:19), Joseph's officers
   in Egypt (Gen. 41:34).

     (4.) Heb. shallit, one who has power, who rules (Gen. 42:6;
   Ezra 4:20; Eccl. 8:8; Dan. 2:15; 5:29).

     (5.) Heb. aluph, literally one put over a thousand, i.e., a
   clan or a subdivision of a tribe. Used of the "dukes" of Edom
   (Gen. 36), and of the Jewish chiefs (Zech. 9:7).

     (6.) Heb. moshel, one who rules, holds dominion. Used of many
   classes of rulers (Gen. 3:16; 24:2; 45:8; Ps. 105:20); of the
   Messiah (Micah 5:2); of God (1 Chr. 29:12; Ps. 103:19).

     (7.) Heb. sar, a ruler or chief; a word of very general use.
   It is used of the chief baker of Pharaoh (Gen. 40:16); of the
   chief butler (40:2, etc. See also Gen. 47:6; Ex. 1:11; Dan. 1:7;
   Judg. 10:18; 1 Kings 22:26; 20:15; 2 Kings 1:9; 2 Sam. 24:2). It
   is used also of angels, guardian angels (Dan. 10:13, 20, 21;
   12:1; 10:13; 8:25).

     (8.) Pehah, whence _pasha_, i.e., friend of the king;
   adjutant; governor of a province (2 Kings 18:24; Isa. 36:9; Jer.
   51: 57; Ezek. 23:6, 23; Dan. 3:2; Esther 3: 12), or a perfect
   (Neh. 3:7; 5:14; Ezra 5:3; Hag. 1:1). This is a foreign word,
   Assyrian, which was early adopted into the Hebrew idiom (1 Kings
   10:15).

     (9.) The Chaldean word _segan_ is applied to the governors of
   the Babylonian satrapies (Dan. 3:2, 27; 6:7); the prefects over
   the Magi (2:48). The corresponding Hebrew word _segan_ is used
   of provincial rulers (Jer. 51:23, 28, 57); also of chiefs and
   rulers of the people of Jerusalem (Ezra 9:2; Neh. 2:16; 4:14,
   19; 5:7, 17; 7:5; 12:40).

     In the New Testament there are also different Greek words
   rendered thus.

     (1.) Meaning an ethnarch (2 Cor. 11:32), which was an office
   distinct from military command, with considerable latitude of
   application.

     (2.) The procurator of Judea under the Romans (Matt. 27:2).
   (Comp. Luke 2:2, where the verb from which the Greek word so
   rendered is derived is used.)

     (3.) Steward (Gal. 4:2).

     (4.) Governor of the feast (John 2:9), who appears here to
   have been merely an intimate friend of the bridegroom, and to
   have presided at the marriage banquet in his stead.

     (5.) A director, i.e., helmsman; Lat. gubernator, (James 3:4).