prefecture
(ˈpriːfɛktjʊə(r))
[ad. L. præfectūra the office or administration of a præfectus: see prefect n. and -ure. So F. préfecture (13–14th c. in Hatz.-Darm.).]
1. The office or position of prefect, ancient or modern; administration of a governor; presidency, superintendency, directorship; the time or period during which such office is held.
| 1608 J. King Serm. St. Marys 6 Not by way of Lieutenantship, deputation, subordinate prefecture whatsoever, but as a King over subiects. 1652 Gaule Magastrom. 2 All their prefecture and power [are] but derivative, subordinate, ministeriall. a 1654 Selden Table-T. (1689) 34 You would have some other kind of Præfeture, than a Mayoralty. 1756 Nugent Montesquieu's Spir. Laws (1758) I. iv. viii. 54 Plato..says, that the præfectures of music and gymnic exercises [etc.]. 1865 Merivale Rom. Emp. VIII. lxvi. 188 He..occupied at the moment the most important of all charges, the prefecture of Syria. 1865 Maffei Brigand Life II. 34 The old officials were retained in the prefectures. |
2. A district under the government of a prefect.
| 1577 Patericke tr. Gentillet (1602) 367 He..commaunded they should take nothing within their prefecture or jurisdiction. 1642 Jer. Taylor Episc. 303 S. Chrysostome had Pontus, Asia, and all Thrace in his parish, even as much as came to sixteen prefectures. 1762 tr. Busching's Syst. Geog. I. 114 The..island is divided into five Amts or Prefectures. 1841 W. Spalding Italy & It. Isl. I. 108 Constantine divided the empire..into four great Prefectures. |
b. = Chinese fu, an administrative district or division of a province; also, applied to a corresponding district in Japan: cf. prefect n. 1 e.
| 1885 Whitaker's Alm. s.v. Japan, Japan..has recently incorporated Loochoo under the name of ‘Prefecture of Okinawa’. 1890 Hosie W. China 95 The products of the prefecture are not confined to tea. 1897 A. Macphail in Outing (U.S.) XXIX. 325/1, 3 classes [of roads in Japan], the national roads, the prefecture roads between these [military] stations, and the village roads. |
3. The official residence of a prefect or French préfet.
| 1848 W. K. Kelly tr. L. Blanc's Hist. Ten Y. II. 51 The insurgents..were surrounding on all sides the prefecture of police. Ibid. 456 A line of ramparts, along which were ranged the Hôtel-de-Ville, the prefecture, the military division and subdivision. |