préfetn.
/ˈpreɪfeɪ/, U.S. /preɪˈfeɪ/ The chief administrative officer of a department of France; = prefect n. 2c.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > office > holder of office > magistrate > chief magistrate of a district > [noun] > prefect > in France
préfet1820
1820 M. Edgeworth Let. 22 June (1979) 168 Mme Chéron whose son is Préfet I think of Toulouse or some Provincial town.
1861 A. Trollope Tales of all Countries 1st Ser. 22 And the company are all talking to him as though he were the préfet.
1872 A. Trollope Golden Lion xviii. 288 Colmar..has been accustomed to the presence of a préfet, and is no doubt important.
1942 ‘A. Bridge’ Frontier Passage vi. 102 They went off together to the Préfecture at Bayonne... Crossman's prestige..made access to the Préfet easy.
1958 Listener 18 Sept. 431/1 While there might be scoundrels like Darnand, such could be balanced by the courage of préfets like Bousquet.
1995 GQ Jan. 138/2 The target this time is Maurice Papon, a former post-war préfet of police in Paris.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1820