2) geistl. Würdenträger, Leiter eines Kirchenkreises oder Domkapitels ('Dechant').
ETYM Old Eng. dene, deene, Old Fren. deien, dien, French doyen, eldest of a corporation, a dean, Latin decanus the chief of ten, one set over ten persons, e.g., over soldiers or over monks, from decem ten. Related to Ten, Decemvir.
1. The senior member of a group; SYN. doyen.
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2. An administrator in charge of a division of a university or college.
3. (Roman Catholic) The head of the College of Cardinals.
In education, in universities and medical schools, the head of administration; in the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge, UK, the member of the teaching staff charged with the maintenance of discipline; in Roman Catholicism, senior cardinal bishop, head of the college of cardinals; in the Anglican Communion, head of the chapter of a cathedral or collegiate church (a rural dean presides over a division of an archdeaconry).