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Webster 1913 Edition

(stăt′hōldˊẽr)

Noun.

[D.

stadhouder

;

stad

a city, a town +

houder

a holder.]

Formerly, the chief magistrate of the United Provinces of Holland; also, the governor or lieutenant governor of a province.

Noun.

Formerly, the chief magistrate of the United Provinces of Holland; or the governor or lieutenant governor of a province.

stadtholder ‎(plural stadtholders)

The chief magistrate, then later, hereditary chief-of-state of the Dutch Republic.
- 1999, Philipp Blom, translating Geert Mak, Amsterdam: A Brief Life of the City, Vintage 2001, p. 150:
  For decades, no stadtholder who would counterbalance the power of the Amsterdam regents had been appointed.
An office formerly held by Danish and Swedish officials, best translated as governor-general.

chief magistrate

governor-general