Definitions from Wiktionary (govern)

▸ verb:  (transitive) To make and administer the public policy and affairs of; to exercise sovereign authority in.
▸ verb:  (intransitive) To exercise political authority; to run a government.
▸ verb:  (transitive) To control the actions or behavior of; to keep under control; to restrain.
▸ verb:  (transitive) To exercise a deciding or determining influence on.
▸ verb:  (intransitive) To have or exercise a determining influence.
▸ verb:  (transitive, obsolete) To handle, to manage, to oversee (a matter, an affair, a household, etc.).
▸ verb:  (transitive) To control the speed, flow etc. of; to regulate.
▸ verb:  (transitive, obsolete) To direct the course of, to guide in some direction, to steer.
▸ verb:  (transitive, obsolete) To look after, to take care of, to tend to (someone or some plant).
▸ verb:  (transitive, obsolete) To manage, to control, to work (a tool or mechanical device).
▸ verb:  (transitive, grammar) To require that a certain preposition, grammatical case, etc. be used with a word; sometimes used synonymously with collocate.
▸ noun:  The act of governing

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