prefect

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
prefect/ˈpriːfekt/

▶noun

• 1 chiefly Brit. a senior pupil authorized to enforce discipline in a school.

• 2 a chief officer, magistrate, or regional governor in certain countries.

  ■ a senior magistrate or governor in the ancient Roman world.

– derivatives
prefectoral adjective,
prefectorial adjective.

– origin ME: from OFr., from L. praefectus, praeficere ‘set in authority over’, from prae ‘before’ + facere ‘make’.