dean1

[deen] /din/
noun
1.
Education.
  1. the head of a faculty, school, or administrative division in a university or college:
    the dean of admissions.
  2. an official in an American college or secondary school having charge of student personnel services, such as counseling or discipline:
    the dean of men.
  3. the official in charge of undergraduate students at an English university.
2.
Ecclesiastical.
  1. the head of the chapter of a cathedral or a collegiate church.
  2. Also called vicar forane. a priest in the Roman Catholic Church appointed by a bishop to take care of the affairs of a division of a diocese.
3.
the senior member, in length of service, of any group, organization, profession, etc.:
the dean of lexicographers.
Origin
1300-50; Middle English deen < Anglo-French deen, dean, Old French deien < Late Latin decānus chief of ten, equivalent to Latin dec(em) ten + -ānus -an
Related forms
deanship, noun

dean2

[deen] /din/
noun, British
1.
dene.

Dean

[deen] /din/
noun
1.
James (Byron) 1931–55, U.S. actor.
2.
Jay Hanna ("Dizzy") 1911–74, U.S. baseball pitcher.
3.
a male given name: from the Old English family name meaning “valley.”.
Examples from the web for dean
  • At last, their prognostications came true: the dean was dead.
  • Among the many statutory duties of the dean, there was none obliging him to take any part in preaching.
  • But she had no plan to get there through the traditional route: chair to dean to provost to president.
  • Many of the students were killed by their own teachers, specifically the dean of agriculture and vice-dean of political science.
  • The dean dismissed her as a lightweight, a criticism that dogged her for the rest of her life.
  • Which the business school dean at the time said was an oxymoron.
  • But what really engaged the audience was the antagonism between the frat and the dean.
  • Her grades were good enough for her to make the dean's list, and she was a fine soccer player.
  • When inebriated, dean is incapable of holding even the simplest of conversations.
  • These are the dean, the precentor, the chancellor and the treasurer.
British Dictionary definitions for dean

dean

/diːn/
noun
1.
the chief administrative official of a college or university faculty
2.
(at Oxford and Cambridge universities) a college fellow with responsibility for undergraduate discipline
3.
(mainly Church of England) the head of a chapter of canons and administrator of a cathedral or collegiate church
4.
(RC Church) the cardinal bishop senior by consecration and head of the college of cardinals See also rural dean related adjective decanal
Derived Forms
deanship, noun
Word Origin
C14: from Old French deien, from Late Latin decānus one set over ten persons, from Latin decem ten

Dean1

/diːn/
noun
1.
Forest of Dean, a forest in W England, in Gloucestershire, between the Rivers Severn and Wye: formerly a royal hunting ground

Dean2

/diːn/
noun
1.
Christopher. See Torvill and Dean
2.
James (Byron). 1931–55, US film actor, who became a cult figure; his films include East of Eden and Rebel Without a Cause (both 1955). He died in a car crash

dene1

/diːn/
noun
1.
(Brit) a valley, esp one that is narrow and wooded
Word Origin
Old English denu valley; see den

dene2

/diːn/
noun
1.
(dialect, mainly Southern English) a sandy stretch of land or dune near the sea
Word Origin
C13: probably related to Old English dūn hill; see down³
Word Origin and History for dean
n.

early 14c., from Old French deien (12c., Modern French doyen), from Late Latin decanus "head of a group of 10 monks in a monastery," from earlier secular meaning "commander of 10 soldiers" (which was extended to civil administrators in the late empire), from Greek dekanos, from deka "ten" (see ten). Replaced Old English teoðingealdor. College sense is from 1570s (in Latin from late 13c.).