stadholder (stad holder)

[Also spelled stadtholder (= F. stathouder ); a partial accommodation of MD. stadhouder, a deputy, legate, vicar, substitute, lieutenant, esp. a viceroy, a governor of a province, esp. in Holland, in later use (D. stadhouder = G. statthalter ), a governor, a chief magistrate, lit. 'stead-holder,' lieutenant, "locum-tenens" (Kilian); other view, reflected in the false spelling stadt holder, the first element is supposed to be D. stad = G. stadt, a town, city (a particular use of the preceding); but this is an error, due to the fact that D. stad, in its lit. sense 'place,' is now obsolete; moreover, a stadholder is not the 'keeper of a city.'] Formerly, in the Netherlands, ( a ) the governor or lieutenant-governor of a province; (b) the chief magistrate of the United Provinces of the Netherlands.