See also: Dean, déan, deán, and dèan

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English den, deen (dean), from Anglo-Norman deen and continental Old French deien (modern French doyen), from Latin decānus. Doublet of doyen.

Noun

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dean (plural deans)

  1. A senior official in a college or university, who may be in charge of a division or faculty (for example, the dean of science) or have some other advisory or disciplinary function (for example, the dean of students).
    • 1995 October, Robert Frost, Richard Poirier, Robert Frost: Collected Poems, Prose, & Plays (LOA #81) (DE-601)374069697: Library of America series)‎[1], Library of America, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 357:
      Lucretius versus the Lake Poets ' Nature I loved ; and next to Nature , Art . '
      Dean , adult education may seem silly .
      What of it though ? I got some willy - nilly
      The other evening at your college deanery .
      And grateful for it ( Let's not be facetious!) []
  2. A dignitary or presiding officer in certain church bodies, especially an ecclesiastical dignitary, subordinate to a bishop, in charge of a chapter of canons.
  3. The senior member of some group of people.
    dean of the diplomatic corps - a country's most senior ambassador
    dean of the House - the longest-serving member of a legislature
    • 1955 October 19, Rex Stout, The Next Witness, Three Witnesses, 94 Bantam, →ISBN, page 67:
      All of the switchboard operators had been parties to it, including Marie Willis. Their dean, Alice Hart, collected []
Synonyms
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  • (Head of cathedral chapter): provost
Derived terms
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Translations
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Verb

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dean (third-person singular simple present deans, present participle deaning, simple past and past participle deaned)

  1. (intransitive, rare) To serve as a dean.
  2. (transitive, Oxbridge, otherwise rare, informal) To send (a student) to see the dean of a college or university.

Etymology 2

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Related to den.

Noun

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dean (plural deans)

  1. (Sussex, chiefly in place names) A hill.

Etymology 3

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Noun

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dean (plural deans)

  1. (Northumbria, chiefly in place names) Alternative form of dene.

Anagrams

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Basque

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Noun

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dean

  1. inessive singular of de

Friulian

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Etymology

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From Late Latin decānus, from Latin decem (ten). Compare Italian decano, Venetan degàn, French doyen.

Noun

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dean m (plural deans)

  1. (religion) dean
  2. doyen
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Galician

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Verb

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dean

  1. inflection of dar:
    1. third-person plural present subjunctive
    2. third-person plural imperative
  NODES
Note 1