(chiefly Brit.)a senior pupil in some schools authorized to enforce discipline (主英)级长,班长
a chief officer, magistrate, or regional governor in certain countries 地方行政长官 the prefect of police. 警察局局长。 ■a senior magistrate or governor in the ancient Roman world (古罗马)长官,高级行政官,总督 Avitus was prefect of Gaul from AD 439. 阿维托斯公元439年以后是高卢的总督。
late Middle English (in sense 2): from Old French, from Latin praefectus, past participle of praeficere 'set in authority over', from prae 'before' + facere 'make'. Sense 1 dates from the early 19th cent