noun.
Literally, father: a title originally given to any monk, but afterward limited to the head or superior of a monastery.
noun.
In later usage, loosely applied to the holder of one of certain non-monastic offices.
noun.
A title retained in Hanover, Würtemberg, Brunswick, and Schleswig-Holstein by the heads of certain Protestant institutions to which the property of various abbeys was transferred at the Reformation. See abbess
noun.
The chief magistrate of the Genoese in Galata.